Wood Duck

Overview

Wood Duck: Small tree duck with brown back, white throat, purple-brown breast with white flecks grading to white belly; buff-yellow flanks. Crested head is green and purple with white stripes; white throat has two bars, one extends as a partial collar, the other extends behind and below eyes.

Range and Habitat

Wood Duck: Breeds across most of central and eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada and along the Pacific coast from California to British Columbia. Preferred habitats include wooded swamps and freshwater marshes.

INTERESTING FACTS

Wood Duck young leave the nest soon after hatching. They jump from the nesting cavity, often high up in a tree, to the ground or water. The Wood Duck is a distinctively North American species, as fossil remains have been found only in widely scattered locations in the eastern part of the continent. The Wood Duck was hunted nearly to extinction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Management procedures have been successful and there are now well over a million Wood Ducks in North America. A group of ducks has many collective nouns, including "a brace of ducks", "flush of ducks", "paddling of ducks", "raft of ducks", and a "team of ducks."