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Texas Wood Duck

The Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) is a flamboyant and colorful species of North American waterfowl. Wood Ducks feed by dabbling and they are strong fliers and can reach speeds of 30 mph. They are one of only a few ducks that have claws on their feet, allowing them to perch and nest in trees. They tend to build their nests within one mile of a lake shore, river bank, or other body of water. Egg-dumping, or intraspecific brood parasitism is common in Wood Ducks—females visit other Wood Duck cavities, lay eggs in them, and leave them to be raised by the other female. This may have been made more common by the abundance of artificial nest boxes.

Individual females typically lay 10-11 eggs per clutch, but some very full nests have been found containing 29 eggs, the result of egg-dumping. This beautiful male Wood Duck image was captured at White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.

 

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Uploaded on December 16, 2018
Taken on November 24, 2018