Wood Duck
[A wood duck in the water. Photo by John White.] What do they look like?
The wood duck is the most colorful duck in Maryland. It is considered a small to medium size dabbling duck with an overall colorful body that include shades of green, purple, and burgundy. The males have a distinctive crested head that is iridescent green and purple, with a white throat with finger-like extensions onto the cheek and neck. They also have red eyes. The females are brownish to gray with a pronounced white patch around the eye and throat and have a gray crested head. Both sexes have a long square tail.

Where are they found?
Wood ducks are found throughout the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Pacific flyways in riparian areas, lakes, streams, wooded swamps, and fresh water marshes. In Maryland, they are the most common breeding duck and are more abundant during the breeding season than during winter.

What do they eat?
[Two wood ducks by the water's edge.] Wood ducks have a broad diet of seeds, fruit, acorns, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and insects.

What other type of ducks live in Maryland?
The wood duck belongs to a classification of ducks known as surface-feeders or marsh ducks because of their feeding habit of dabbling and tipping their back ends up. Other ducks in this category include: American black duck, gadwall, mallard, pintail, American wigeon, Northern shoveler, blue-wing teal, and green-wing teal.

I didn't know that!
The wood duck is the only cavity nesting dabbling duck in Maryland. Wood duck will nest in natural tree cavities and manmade nest boxes within about a quarter mile of suitable brood rearing habitat. Occasionally, wood duck females will nest in chimneys.

Top Photograph by John White