Wood Duck – Star of the Woods

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Wood Duck

The Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) is a small North American waterbird of great beauty—some claim with justification that the “Woody” is the most beautiful duck. Wood Ducks can be found across North America on or near beaver ponds, swamps, marshes and lakeshores with wooded edges. In Ontario, they are uncommon to locally fairly common from mid-March to late October; a few may be present in winter.

Wood Ducks nest in a hollow or tree cavity, where the hen incubates 9-14 white to buff eggs for 25-35 days.

Wood Duck Pair

Seen in Grindstone Marsh in Hendrie Valley, Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in the spring (2008). I saw four or five other pair that day.

Ducklings begin life as little bundles of down who tumble unassisted from their nests in a tree—some as high as 50 feet above the ground—to follow their mother to the nearest source of water. At about seven weeks they begin to fly. The ducklings will grow to about 18½ inches.

Male Wood Duck

This little beauty spent his entire winter (2007/08) at the LaSalle Park marina at Burlington, Ontario, Canada. He was the only Woody there amongst Trumpeter, Mute and Tundra swans, Canadian Geese, a large flock of Mallards, American Black Ducks, Widgeon, Goldeneys, Buffleheads and several other variety of waterfowl.

The adult male's colouring and crest are the more distinctive (see picture above), while the female is gray-brown with paler spots on the flanks, a small crest, dark back and a teardrop-shaped white patch around the eye (see picture below). Except for the white eye patch, the female resembles the female Mandarin Duck. The juvenile resembles the female.

Wood Duck Hen

Seen in Grindstone Marsh in Hendrie Valley, Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in the spring (2008). I saw four or five other pair that day.

The Wood Duck eats aquatic plants, nuts, fruit, insects, small fish and crustaceans.

These little ducks are reclusive and skittish and have to be approached carefully or they will take flight. Most photographs will have to be taken at a distance long enough to require a telephoto lens—something in the range of 300mm to 600mm will usually be called for.

For more photographs of the Wood Duck, see my Wood Duck Gallery

“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”

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