Wood Duck is one of the most famous waterfowls. They thrive in bottomland forests, swamps, freshwater marshes, and beaver ponds. They are also known by several other names including Woodie, Carolina duck, Swamp Duck, Squealer Duck and Summer Duck etc.
These are medium-sized ducks, measuring 17 to 20 inches in length with a round-shaped body. This body shape makes them buoyant. This is the reason why they sit higher in water as compared to other ducks.
Quick Facts: –
- The Wood Duck was hunted nearly to extinction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Their highest population is found along the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast south of New Jersey.
- Males are iridescent chestnut and green, with ornate patterns on every feather and females have a distinctive profile and delicate white pattern around the eye.
- Their average wingspan ranges from 26 inches to 29 inches.
- They are mainly plant eaters and feed upon on aquatic plants, seeds, nuts and fruits. But sometimes they also eat insects, snails, tadpoles, and salamanders.
- They are the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one year.
- Their breeding habitat includes wooded swamps, shallow lakes, marshes or ponds, and creeks.
- The breeding season starts in April. The eggs laid by a female are known as a clutch.
- Females usually lay between 7 and 15 white-tan eggs that incubate for an average of 30 days.
- The oldest recorded Wood Duck was a male 22 years and 6 months old.
