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Creating a Wild Backyard: The Wood Duck

To bird lovers all over the country, the male wood duck is the most beautiful duck native to North America. With his brilliant feathers, shimmering with green, violets, browns, and blacks highlighted with white, the male wood duck seems dressed for a very special occasion. Female wood ducks are beautiful in their own right. Females are similar to males in appearance but are less colorful.

Wood ducks are found throughout North America. They are migratory and move north in the spring and south in the winter. Some individuals may be year-round Maryland residents.

Natural History
Wood ducks live in wooded lakes, rivers, swamps, and streams. Occasionally, they can be found in city parks. In the winter, wood ducks, or "woodies", often group together to search for food and shelter. In the spring, males and females will pair up and start nesting activities.

Nests are located no more than a mile from water and are usually placed in tree cavities about 20 to 30 feet above the ground or water surface. Females use debris in the cavity and down feathers for nesting material. Wood ducks nest from April to June. In about a month, 9-12 eggs will hatch and, within 24 hours, the little ducklings will use their sharp claws to climb to the nest entrance and fall to the ground or water. Once on the ground, females will lead the ducklings to the nearest body of water. They will not come back to the nest. Wood duck young can fly in about 60 days from hatching; meanwhile, their mother looks after them and protects them from harm.

What Do Wood Ducks Eat?
Woodies eat a variety of foods including duckweed, seeds and tubers of sedges, grasses, smartweed, wild rice, nuts, fruits, insects and small aquatic animals. By having the right habitat for woodies and by providing duck nest boxes, you may attract these beautiful birds without ever having to feed them.

Wood Duck Nest Box
In the early 1900's, loss of mature and dying trees with nesting hollows lead to a decline in woodies. When federal and state governments and local wildlife enthusiasts began erecting wood duck nest boxes, the birds made a miraculous comeback. If you have a wooded stream or pond on your property or live along a Chesapeake Bay shore with woods nearby, you may be able to attract wood ducks by erecting a wood duck nest box.

How to Build a Wood Duck Nest Box

Materials

• 1" x 12" x 10' untreated lumber

• 25 eight or ten penny zinc-coated nails

• 1/4" lag bolt, 6" long

• 4" spikes

• 3" cabinet hinge and screws

• 3" wide strip of 1/4" hardware cloth (bend sharp ends)

• 4" x 4" x 16' post of weather resistant wood

• sawdust and wood chips for a 3" nesting material base

• two 1" x 1" x 2" blocks of wood

Construction

1. Mark and cut the pieces out of the lumber as shown.

2. Drill 1/4" holes in the floor piece to allow for drainage.

3. Staple the hardware cloth to the middle of the front piece, just under the entrance hole. The hardware cloth should face inside the nest cavity.

4. Using the eight or ten penny nails, assemble the back floor, front, side #1, the upper side of side #2, and the roof. Place the lower side of side #2 length wise so that the long edge fits against the bottom piece. Attach with nails.

5. Attach one side of the cabinet hinges to the shore side of the door of side # 2 and attach the other side of the hinges to the back of the box so that the door can swing outward. Put a large nail in the door near the front of the box and another nail on the front of the box so that the door can be wired shut. Be careful not to penetrate the nest cavity with the nails.

6. Line up one of the wooden blocks between the back of the nest box and the supporting pole or tree. Through the nest box opening, use the lag bolt to attach the box to the pole or tree through the wooden block.

7. Line up the other wooden block between the bottom part of the back of the box and the supporting pole or tree. Drive the spike through the bottom of the box, the back of the box and the block of wood to the pole or tree.

8. Be sure to add a predator guard to the pole supporting you wood duck nest box. Boxes without predator guards can become death traps for ducks.

9. Add 2-3" of wood shavings or chips to the box and spray with disinfectant.

Wood Duck Nest Box Tips

• Repair your boxes each year before March 1. Clean out any debris and replace wood chips or shavings and spray with disinfectant. Replace box if necessary.
  

• Always place a predator guard under your duck box.
  

• Place your box at least 6 feet above the ground or water surface. If water level changes, keep the predator guard 3 feet above the high tide line.
  

• Place your boxes in a 1 box to 1-2 acre area of water.
  

• Wood duck boxes can be stained, treated or painted but only on the outside.
  

• Some wood duck enthusiasts have suggested placing a horizontal slab of wood with the bark attached on the front of the box just below the entrance hole. This helps the female duck land and enter the box.
  

• Box entrances near the water should face the water, otherwise a south and west facing is preferred. 
  

• If you place your boxes in trees, be sure they are safe from predators which can climb from above or below the box.
  

• Boxes can be placed on or near the water or they can be placed some distance away from the water. Boxes placed near the water will be used most often. If your boxes will be away from the water, be sure that there are no major obstacles (roads, curbs, bike paths) to the mother duck leading her ducklings to water.
  

Wood Duck Nest Box Plan

Wood Duck Nest Box Plan (.pdf)
Requires Acrobat Reader to Open

For Additional Information, Contact:
 
 Wild Acres Program
 Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
 Attn:  Marilyn Mause
 Gwynnbrook WMA
 3740 Gwynnbrook Ave
 Owings Mills MD 21117
 410-356-0941
 E-Mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us

Invite Wildlife to Your Backyard...

- Photo of Wood Ducks Courtesy of John White