Wood DUCKS

Wood Duck public domain from USFWS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The wood duck offers many beautiful colors on its body for people to enjoy. It is commonly referred to as the Carolina duck as well but they are the same species. Some people mistake full grown wood ducks for younger ones though because they don’t grow to be as large as many other types of ducks you will see. You will find the males have more colors than the females even though both of them are extremely attractive. The easiest way to tell them apart is to look at the eyes. Females have a white ring around them while males are just red in color.

Wood ducks are found in many areas of the United States, especially along the west coast due to the very warm weather. They are also found throughout Mexico. They tend to stick around marshes, ponds, and lakes. They aren’t as receptive to people being around them as many other types of ducks are though. They tend to be very set on sticking to only interacting with their group.

They lay about 9-14 eggs at a time but many of them end up in the water due to them placing them so close to the shore. Many people take these eggs belonging to wood ducks too as they walk along the edges of the body of water. It is an instinct that allows the wood ducks to lay the eggs in this area so that their young can immediately enter the water. To help protect them though they often select murky bodies of water to place their eggs into.

Some wood ducks migrate but many of them stay where they are at all year long. This is because they tend to live in climates where it does stay a good temperature for them all year long. However, we have all realized shifts in weather patterns in the past decade. As a result of this more, wood ducks are migrating annually than ever before.

They have very skinny yet strong legs so they can walk rapidly and also take off into flight very quickly. They survive off of plants and berries that they find around them. They also like to eat bird seed so you may get some wood ducks in your area as they are migrating for the winter months.

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