A Wood Duck Pair

Isn't he stunning? Like tropical fish, these are the most painted of common ducks. When I was a little girl my dad had all kinds of wooden decoys on the shelves and his desk in his den. I'd seen one like this in his collection but didn't realize then that it wasn't all from the imagination of the artist.


As it often is in the animal kingdom, the female isn't as colorful. I don't know if this still picture quite captures it, but she does appear soft and feminine and pretty in person.


These two showed up at the park about a year and a half ago. Before then I had never seen one up close. At first I only saw the male but within a few months I saw her with him. I don't know if they came from somewhere to nest and she was busy with that during that time or if they met through E-Harmony and she moved to be with him...

I've read that they're the only ducks that nest in trees, near or over water. The mother hatches anywhere between 6 and 15 or more eggs, then gets on the ground and calls her babies to jump. The little ones can drop up to 290 feet and apparently be OK! Amazing isn't it? They then make their way to water.

Last spring I saw her in a sheltered little side pool where many smart mothers have their babies (it's off the beaten path -- free of people and predators -- and it's a small, quiet, shallow cove). Sticking close to her side were three gray fuzzy ducklings. I was delighted to see that they had indeed mated with success, but after a week or two I never saw the little ones again. Wood Ducks usually produce two broods a year so maybe they'll have better luck this coming spring.