Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about wood ducks. It would be difficult to miss a male wood duck if you came across one in the wild. It could be confused with a mandarin duck from the same genus, but this species is from the other side of the world, so that confusion likely wouldn’t happen in real life. There are also Australian wood ducks, but they’re a different species than the wood ducks were discussing today. Woods ducks may also be known as Carolina duck, summer ducks, and woodies and their scientific name roughly translates to waterfowl in a wedding dress; though, neither the male or the female of this species comes in all white so they like to break traditions. Male wood ducks are splendid in their colors and females come in softer natural shades with white tear ducts around their eyes. In size, wood ducks average 18 inches in length, two foot wingspans, and about a pound and a half in weight. These waterfowl live in North America. In the early 1900s they were nearing extinction, but bans on hunting and placement of nesting boxes helped them bounce back from the brink. This isn’t the only way in which wood ducks bounce, so stay tuned to find out why else they’re adept at bouncing!

Wood ducks prefer slow or stagnant waters like ponds, swamps, marshes, and creeks; they also prefer areas with more vegetation, so they’re often seen around the edges of bodies of water. Wood ducks eat seeds as well as fruit, nuts, and insects with baby wood ducks focusing specifically on insects due to their high protein content. Of course, it would be inappropriate to call a wood duck a wood duck if it wasn’t in some way related to the woods. These birds also travel across land to search for food and will even perch in trees clinging to branches using the sharp nails on their webbed feet. These are some of the only waterfowl to perch in trees!

Wood ducks also use trees for their nest sights. Wood ducks are monogamous for a single breeding season, so they’ll change partners each year. Those who nest in the north migrate there from southern wintering grounds, though those living in the south may remain there year round. For those who do migrate, the females will return to the previous year’s nest or will nest near where they hatched the previous year if they’re only a year old. Males, therefore, may travel shorter or longer distances depending on their partners throughout the years. The wood duck nests in the cavity of a tree. These aren’t made by the ducks but are usually taken over after the animal that did make it, such as a raccoon or woodpecker, has moved out. The female will lay 8 to 15 eggs in the cavity and incubate them for about thirty days. The male sticks around right until the eggs are ready to hatch and then he leaves. He’ll go join other males and they’ll all enter their ‘eclipse phase’ when they molt their fancy feathers and look more drab for a few weeks - females do this, too, it just occurs a little later in the year. When they molt, wood ducks can’t fly, so they're vulnerable to predators like raccoons, foxes, owls, hawks, and otters. The babies are the most vulnerable with upwards of 90% being taken in their first week of life. And they don’t stay in the nest for protection!

All the eggs in a clutch will hatch at the same time and the mother will spend their first night with them in the tree, the next day, however, she’ll scan the area for predators and once it’s safe she’ll call her babies to join her. Of course, wood duck nests can be as high as 65 feet (20m) off the ground, so they have quite the leap of faith to make. They’ll descend like little cotton puffs. Their bones are soft and pliable so they can fall these heights unharmed - much like the barnacle geese we’ve talked about previously. They’ll bounce on the water or the leaf litter below, join their mother, and begin eating! The babies stick with their mother for about six weeks and are able to fly at about two months of age. On average wood ducks live 3-4 years in the wild, but they’ve been known to live longer than a decade if they can avoid threats. This is the call of a male wood duck and this is a female.

For more facts on wood ducks check out the links in the description. Thank you to King of Sludge for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.