font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Aix sponsa

(North American Wood Duck)

Overview

[ Back to top ]

Interesting Facts

[ Back to top ]

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Dutch:

Carolinaeend

Common Names in English:

North American Wood Duck, acorn duck, bridal duck, Carolina duck, Carolina wood duck, squealer, summer duck, swamp duck, the bride, tree duck, Wood Duck, wood wigeon, woody

Common Names in French:

canard branchu, Canard carolin

Common Names in German:

Brautente

Common Names in Japanese:

アメリカオシ

Common Names in Spanish:

Pato arcoiris, Pato Joyuyo

Common Names in Swedish:

Brudand

Description

[ Back to top ]

Physical Description

Adult Female: Head : gray Crest : gray Face : Chin: white Eyebrow Line : black with U-shaped white patch Eyeline: white teardrop Bill: dark Length : short Body: Back: iridescent blue-green Breast: brownish Sides: white streaks on brown Legs : Femorals: white streaks on brown Tail: dark Length: long Shape : squared.Adult Male: Head: black with white lines Crest: long, pointed with white lines Face: Eyebrow Line: black with U-shaped white patch Bill: red, white, black, and yellow Neck: black with U-shaped white patch Body: Back: iridescent blue-green Breast: burgundy with white spots Sides: yellowish Legs: Femorals: burgundy Tail: dark Length: long Shape: squared.

Color:

Both adults have a crested head , white belly, and a white line at the back of the wing (especially seen while the bird is in flight). The head of the male is iridescent green, blue, and purple, with two white lines that run parallel to each other from the base of the bill and behind the eye to the back of the head. The male also has a white chin and throat , red eyes, red at the base of the bill, a deep rust-colored chest, bronze sides, and a black back and tail. In contrast, the female is gray-brown overall, with white eye rings and a white throat and chin. There are three mutations of the Wood Duck coloration : the Apricot, the White and the Silver forms. The White Wood Duck is primarily white with pinkish markings. The Apricot Wood Duck is a pastel apricot color, and the bill is a deeper red. The newest and most unique mutation is the Silver Wood Duck. The plumage of the Silver Wood Duck is shades of dark gray to silver.

Adult male alternate: Alternate plumage worn from Fall-through early summer · Red bill · Red eye · Green head · Striking white stripes about face and crest with a large white throat patch and "fingerlike" extensions onto cheek and neck · Chestnut breast and neck with vertical white stripe at lower margin · Golden flanks bordered above by a white flank stripe · White belly · Iridescent dark green-blue back and wings

Adult male basic: In basic plumage, the male resembles the female, but often retains the distinctive neck patch and red bill

Adult female: Gray bill · White teardrop shaped patch around eye · White throat · Gray-brown head and neck · Gray-brown breast stippled with white and fading to a white belly · Dark brown back

Juvenal plumage: Gray bill · Female similar to adult female · Males similar to adult females, but with white neck patch

Size/Age/Growth

About 17 to 20 inches long, with a wingspan of 28 to 30 inches. Adults weigh about 24 ounces .

Habitat

The Wood Duck spends most of its time in the water or in forests , always being close to a creek , river , pond , or swamp . They prefer freshwater waterways , streams , woodland habitat surrounding hillside lakes .

Vegetation: freshwater lakes and ponds, streams • Maximum Elevation: 900 meters • Foraging Strata: Water • Center of Abundance: Lower tropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; tropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbance: Medium

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,911 meters (0 to 9,551 feet).[1]

Ecology: List of Habitats :

[more info]

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Diet

The primary food for the adult is acorns , along with some fruits and nut products which it gathers in shallow flooded areas or on the ground along wooded stream banks. It will eat alternative seed crops from plants such as cypress, hickory, and buttonbush (a shrub in the genus Cephalanthus that commonly grows in swamps and along pond borders and stream margins). They also eat floating freshwater plant matter such as duckweed. When preferred foods are unavailable , waste corn from fields is sometimes eaten.

Reproduction

In the southern portion of its range , the Wood Duck begins nesting In February and early March. In the northern areas, breeding begins in mid-March to mid-April. The peak breeding season in the South is mid-March to mid-April; in the North it is late March through April. The Wood Duck is a cavity nester , readily using man-made nest boxes when natural cavities are limited. Nest cavities are usually located within 1 mile of water, and average 9 m (30 feet) above the ground . The nest is lined with wood chips and down . The female lays 6-15 (usually 10-15) eggs . Any nest with more than 15 eggs probably contains eggs that have been "dumped" by one or more other females. Like many other bird species, a female Wood Duck will lay eggs in others' nests. The reasons for this behavior are unknown, but may include a female's own nest having been destroyed or a female not wanting to "put all her eggs in one basket," as the saying goes. Dumped eggs can result in an apparent clutch size of up to 50 eggs. Females incubate the eggs for approximately 30 days, only leaving the nest twice a day. The young are precocial and remain in the nest for 24 hours. The female coaxes the young out of the cavity and leads them to the nearest water. The female will then care for the young for 56-70 days, at which time they become independent

Migration

Migratory

Behavior

Wood Ducks are among the few ducks that roost and nest in trees . Newly hatched chicks will jump from the nest to follow their mother to water. Baby Wood Ducks can survive falls of more than 40 ft . Male Wood Ducks are extremely territorial during the mating season , and aggressively protect the area around the female.

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Synonyms

Aix sponsa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 23-Jan-2007

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Blue Winged Teal, Green Winged Teal

Members of the genus Aix

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2 species and subspecies in this genus:

A. galericulata (Mandarin Duck) · A. sponsa (North American Wood Duck)

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 27, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Mean = 28.610 meters (93.865 feet), Standard Deviation = 44.010 based on 112,022 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/14/2012