Decorative Duck

Nature went overboard in selecting colors for male Wood Ducks. You might expect such a brightly colored species to be tropical, but in fact Wood Ducks are entirely North American, breeding in the Eastern US and southern Canada, and overwintering in the southeastern US and Mexico to Central America.

In contrast to her ornamented male partner, female Wood Ducks are rather plain brown with bright blue under the wing.

Wood Ducks are dabblers, meaning they feed on suspended matter in the water, but they also eat a variety of food on land (e.g., acorns and insects), so they really are omnivores. However, what they were feasting on this particular morning was duckweed. I always wondered if duckweed was actually eaten by ducks or they just swam around in it. But Wood Ducks seem to love it.

This is one of the rare ducks that can perch on limbs (they have sharp nails at the end of their webbed toes) and nests in tree cavities, preferably above water. After incubating their large brood of up to 16 eggs for 30 days, they encourage their hatchlings to launch themselves out of the nest. Of course they can't fly at this stage, which is why a water landing is preferable. I found three females sunning themselves on a tree branch in the early morning before setting out to feed.

There was only a single male on this particular lake, but at least six females (or perhaps the young of the year) accompanying him to feed.

Like the Great Egret, Wood Duck feathers were heavily utilized in the hat industry in the early 1900s, causing a significant dip in the population. Introduction of nest boxes in prime wetland habitat, as well as protection through the Migratory Bird Treaty allowed their population to rebuild.

Even in the shade the coloration of the male is a bold pattern.