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Birding.com
Wood Ducks are best known
by the bright colors that males show during the breeding
season. A combination of purple, green, blue, red, white,
and black make this a fascinating and beautiful
animal. Female Wood Ducks, and
males outside of breeding
season, have much plainer coloring of brown and gray. Males
can still be told apart from females by their white neck
patch. Wood Ducks can reach a
length of twenty inches. Gary Hepp Wood Ducks, like most
ducks, live near water. They can be found at ponds and
marshes,
but also wooded rivers and large streams. Unlike most ducks, Wood
Ducks nest in trees. They usually nest in a cavity,
such as an old woodpecker hole. Wood Ducks may use just
about any type of tree, but the ones most commonly used
include: American Sycamore, Southern Red Oak, White Oak,
Black Oak, Silver Maple, Black Willow, and American
Basswood. Wood Ducks do not go to a
lot of trouble to make a nest. They only use wood chips and
feathers. A female duck may lay up to 15 whitish eggs. Young
ducks leave the nest soon after hatching, and they are cared
for by their mother. Ducklings eat mostly
insects, crayfish, worms, and small fish. As they get older,
Wood Ducks switch to mostly vegetable matter, including:
algae,
pondweeds, duckweed, other aquatic
plants, acorns,
hickory nuts, Sweetgum seeds, American Elm seeds,
Buttonbush, beggar-ticks, bulrushes, sedges, maple seeds,
Wild Grape, beechnuts, water lilies,Switchgrass, and other
seeds, nuts, and fruits. Corkscrew Swamp
Sanctuary
Fred Siskind, Huntley Meadows Park
Warren Greene, Cornell
Lab of Ornithology Wood Ducks are shy and
stay hidden among cover
most of the day. Water plants used as cover include:
cattails, sedges, reeds, Yellow Pond Lily, Pickerelweed, and
Lizard's Tail. Trees, vines, and shrubs along the water's
edge also provide good cover, such as: Black Willow, Silver
Maple, American Sycamore, White Oak, Sassafras, Poison Ivy,
Highbush Blueberry, and Wild Grape. Predators
of Wood Ducks include: owls, Red Fox, Raccoon, Common
Snapping Turtle, large fish, snakes, and squirrels. They are
most vulnerable when they are young. Eggs may be destroyed
by woodpeckers or starlings. Wood Ducks live
year-round in Northern Virginia, but they may change
locations according to food sources, water levels, and good
cover.
Copyright, John White, California Academy of Sciences