Description
The wood duck, Aix sponsa, is one of the most distinctive and beautiful dabblers (i.e., ducks that don’t usually dive for food, but rather skim food from the surface or feed by tipping the head and neck forward. https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Dabblers_vs._Divers.html ). The helmet-shaped head of the male is iridescent green and outlined with white slashes. The eyes and upper beak are red. The helmet of the female is plain, but the eyes are outlined dramatically in white. Wood ducks are one of the few duck species equipped with strong claws. They have the ability to take off vertically.
Habitat and Habits
Wood ducks prefer wooded wetlands and riparian environments where open water equally alternates with heavily vegetative cover. They comfortably navigate within the tree canopy, perch on branches, and nest in tree cavities they find. The nest tree does not have to be directly adjacent to the water, but higher nests are favored.
Not only are wood ducks are not territorial, they even commonly exhibit “intraspecific brood parasitism,” or egg dumping, meaning that the females lay eggs in the nests of other females. It is the only North American duck to regularly produce two broods per year.
Wood ducks must be hardy: Young fall from the nest they day after hatching, and the hatchlings can survive a 65-foot drop. Furthermore, a wood duck can live 22 years! Wood duck populations have been increasing and are not categorized as threatened or endangered. (Sauer, J.R., J.E. Hines, J.E. Fallon, K.L. Pardieck, D.J. Ziolkowski, Jr., and W.A. Link. 2016. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966–2015, Version 01.30.2015. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD)
Northern female wood ducks are migratory; southern females are often permanent residents. Movements of males, however, vary because mating pairs form anew each year on wintering grounds, and the male follows the female to her nesting range. Consequently, a male might migrate far north one spring and only a short distance the next, depending on the origin of his mate for that year (http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-duck).
Sound
The female wood duck makes a loud and more sustained “oo-eek, oo-eek” or “wooo-eeek” when disturbed and taking flight.
The male has a softer, rising and falling zeeting whistle, described as “jeeb,” “ jeee,” or “ter-weeee.”
Links to wood duck calls and sounds follow:
http://www.arkive.org/wood-duck/aix-sponsa/video-00.html (Wildscreen Archive)
http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-duck ( See side bar for sounds )
https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/wooduc/introduction;JSESSIONID=AAF794F72D22857B2BDFFE5F797A9991 (Birds of North America)
http://birdnote.org/show/wood-ducks-succeed
http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id/wood-duck
http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Duck_Sounds_audio
https://vimeo.com/39156618 (Wood Duck Hen Calling, Tara Tanaka)
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Aix-sponsa (44 foreground recordings and 28 background recordings of Aix sponsa )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A1Fq8XjqxM
Products
Visit the Avian Note Art collection at Watershed Wildlife Designs (watershedwildlifedesigns.com) to find these wood duck designs on a wide variety of items, such as:
blankets, pillows, totes, shower curtains, shirts, hoodies, mugs, greeting cards, aprons, cutting boards, pot holders, phone and ipad covers. And more!
Gifts for birdwatchers, friends, and family!
Avian Note Art 