It’s in your nature: The wood duck

By Barry Reed

Probably the most beautiful duck in North America, at least in the Times News region, is the male wood duck. The wood duck’s most common nick name is the “Woodie” and are more commonly found here from March through the middle of November. After that, most move southward to avoid the snow cover, frozen bodies of water, and lack of their most common food items.

I earlier penned two columns describing the groups of ducks: the diving ducks and the dabblers. “Divers” included the mergansers, buffleheads, and ring-necked ducks. Meanwhile, the dabblers included the most common ducks, the mallards, and more rare pintail ducks. Dabblers are the ducks that “tip over” to feed in the shallow water. Wood ducks don’t fit entirely in either group but would be mostly associated with the dabblers.

Wood ducks prefer to live along slow-moving streams or swampy areas lined with trees. They feed in and along the bodies of water but also on shore to eat fallen acorns and other available plant material. They may be one of the most terrestrial of all the ducks. Speedy, they can fly about 50 mph and maneuver easily through stream bank and forest trees. Another note, they don’t quack like many other ducks. Their vocalizations are hard to describe; maybe more of a squeal.

Male wood ducks find mates before they move northward in spring and remain with the females until her egg incubation is done. Then, like most other ducks, he lets the rearing and training of the ducklings to her. He may find other bachelor ducks or remain solitary.

To prepare for nesting, the female “woodie” finds a large tree with a cavity opening usually just large enough for her to enter. This smaller opening will exclude their chief nest predator, the raccoon. She will lay an egg a day (about 12 -15) then will begin warming them so they all hatch at almost the same time.

What happens next is really neat. The nest cavity is often 30 or more feet from the ground and the young, born with downy feathers, are able to move about almost immediately. She now flies to the ground and her squeaky calls begin prompting them to jump from the nest cavity. These light, downy, puffy, flightless ducks jump, and with a little bouncing off limbs, most make it safely to mom on the forest floor or stream bank. I have seen a few video clips of this, and it is rather comical to watch.

The hen now takes them to the water, where they face other dangers. Mink, hawks, foxes or even snapping turtles will claim a few of her clutch. In about 8 weeks the surviving young will soon be able to fly and will move on to small groups and fend for themselves. Look for these beauties along Lizard Creek, the Lehigh Canal, Mauch Chunk Lake, Beltzville or Parryville Dams.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: True or False: There are no native cedar trees in Pennsylvania.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The black spruce is native to our area and look for them in particular around the Hickory Run Park area.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.