Male Wood Duck - Aix sponsa

The Male Wood Duck is full of different coloured feathers and this makes it very easy to identify but the male birds do not keep its distinctive markings all year round, the different coloured feathers are to attract a female during the breeding season, after the breeding season they grow grey feathers with blue marking on the wings and white marking on the face and neck, but even though the marking are different it is still possible to recognizable these lovely birds. These birds build their nest in tree hollows / cavities and they prefer trees that hang over water or are quite close to the water as this helps the chicks when they leave the nest. The chicks are born with feathers and this enables them to leave the nest quickly and if the nest is built over water it is a softer landing than on the ground and less time to travel to the water and therefore they are less vulnerable. Wood Ducks alter their diet throughout their lives, as a juvenile they eat a lot of invertebrates and occasionally small fish as they mature, they change their diet to mainly plants, seeds and nuts also they will eat aquatic and land invertebrates. The photograph was taken at Martin Mere Wetland Centre, Burscough, Ormskirk, England.

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