Wood Duck

Aix sponsa

Wood Ducks frequent wooded, slow-moving streams and marshes where they forage for aquatic insects and seek potential nest cavity for nest sites among trees. For egg laying, they select large tree cavities within a few miles of wetlands. Although most nest cavities are near or over water, some are found up to two kilometers from water (Hepp and Bellrose 1995). Most suitable wetland areas are wooded or have shrubs and robust emergent plants. Once dependant on natural cavities, Wood Ducks have accepted artificial nest boxes. Although now a common species throughout Missouri, experts at the turn of the 20th century predicted their demise (Widmann 1907).

Code Frequency

Wood Ducks are more difficult to see than most ducks. The difficulty of locating natural cavities explains the low frequency of nest site observations. Locating ducklings following a female was much easier. Of the 200 confirmed records, 88 percent were observations of ducklings, leaving only 12 percent for all other codes. Of the 460 total records, 50 percent (237) were sightings of individuals or pairs.

Average Number of Birds / 100 stops

Distribution

Wood Ducks were sighted in every county. The Osage Plains and Mississippi Lowlands natural divisions apparently lack the abundance of nesting cavities found in the other natural divisions. With the exceptions of a few areas in the Ozark Natural Division, and much of the Glaciated and Osage plains, their distribution was scattered evenly across the state.

Abundance

Roadside counts did not provide a meaningful assessment of Wood Duck abundance.

Phenology

Wood Ducks begin arriving in late February and are common after early April (Robbins and Easterla 1992). Most fledglings were observed in June (106) but 32 were logged in May, 34 in July, and 2 in August. This is the only regularly double-brooded duck in North America (Hepp and Bellrose 1995).

Notes

Given continued protection from illegal harvest, the use of nest boxes, the expansion of beaver populations and concurrent creation of Wood Duck preferred habitat, this species will probably continue to do well (Hepp and Bellrose 1995).

Breeding Evidence

Reported in 460 (38.1%) of 1,207 blocks

Home|Lists of Illustrations and Tables|Preface|Acknowledgments|Introduction|The Natural Divisions of Missouri|Guide to Species Accounts|Index of Bird Accounts|Appendix A.|Appendix B.|Appendix C.|Appendix D.|Appendix E.|Literature Cited