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Fall has officially arrived, and our summer weather is being re- placed with the cooler temperatures of fall. Along with this cooler weather there will be an increase in human activities occurring outside.
Orchards will be busy with people picking and buying apples and grapes; people will go on tours to view the changing colors of the leaves; roadside stands will be selling the yields of the gardens and there will be those attending the many festivals celebrating fall that are occurring.
Wildlife will also be making changes. One of these changes is the great fall migration. Being a wildlife officer, I was able to view this migration firsthand. My most memorable event was on a beaver dam atop South Mountain.
The sun had set, and it was getting dark, when I heard a strange whistling sound that keep getting louder and louder. I stood there trying to decide what was making the sound when a flock of wood ducks began circling the pond and then landed. I stood there and listen as they settled down for the night.
I had placed wood duck nesting boxes on the pond during the previous winter, hoping that a few of the wood ducks would stay and raise their young on this beaver pond.
The wood duck is regarded by some as the most beautiful duck in North America. They are a duck of the forest and nest in either hollow trees or holes made in trees by pileated woodpeckers. These nesting holes could be a mile or more away from water.
Wood ducks are particularly fond of nuts from the forest trees. The crop of one dead wood duck contained 56 acorns. The diet of a wood duck is made up of plant life, especially being fond of tiny floating duckweeds. They also eat a host of other aquatic plants, grapes, seeds, and nuts. Wood ducks eat more fruit and nuts than any other American duck.
The wood duck's scientific name is Aix sponsa, which comes from the Greek word aix, meaning a water bird. The species name is Latin, meaning a betrothed, a bride, or a promised one, which is in reference to its exquisite plumage. The common name wood comes from its preferred habitat of swampy areas surrounded by woods. Here, in northern Pennsylvania, beaver dams and streams surrounded by woods are ideal habitats. They do not prefer open water such as lakes and open ponds.
They usually nest in a natural hollow tree, either near or away from water. They sometimes nest near dwellings and can be found in trees, such as the sycamore, that tend to be hollow. The cavity can be five to fifty feet above the ground. The preferred distance appears to be 30 feet or more.
The entrance hole to the nest is about 4 1/2 by 8 inches but the book states they prefer smaller openings down to 3 1/2 by 4, which is the smallest opening that the hen enters. The average depth of the cavity is 22 inches, but 50 feet seems to be the deepest cavity that they will use.
The breeding season begins when the ducks return north, which in our area is usually April after ice has left woodland ponds. The wood ducks will choose a new mate each year, and most pairs are formed during the autumn southward migration or on their wintering grounds.
To attract a mate, a male will preen behind his wings to show their iridescent sheen; he tucks in his chin; erects his crest; fans his tail and last performs a ritualized drinking motion. After the birds return north, the hen homes in on last year's nest; however, if a yearling, she will return to the same general area where she was born. Although some nests have been found in March, most nesting occurs in mid-April through June. Several breeding pairs may share the same pond, with nesting concentrations depending largely on the number of boxes or tree cavities available.
The hen lays from nine to 14 eggs (one per day) and incubation will begin with the last egg laid. In a natural cavity, the hen will have plucked feathers from her breast to line the bottom of the nest to lay her eggs on. Be sure to place some wood chips in the bottom of the box if you build one.
The female does all the incubation, which takes 27-33 days. During this period, the male will stay near the female but usually leaves before the young hatch. The first night the female will brood the young in the nest but the following morning she flies out and lands on the ground or water below and starts to call to the young, a soft kuk kuk kuk. The ducklings respond to her calling and climb out of the nest and drop to the ground or water.
They have sharp claws which enable them to grip the inside of the tree cavity and climb up to the opening of the cavity. After the male leaves the female it joins other males in dese cover in swamps or beaver dams. There he molts into an eclipse plumage, dull feathering that resembles the drab plumage of the female. During this molt, for three or four weeks, they lack formed wing feathers and cannot fly. In late summer and early fall, a continuation of the molt restores the flight feathers and the tail returns to his splendid colors. The females also go through a molt but later than the males.
Wood ducks were once threatened with extinction because of overshooting and habitat destruction, such as forests being cut, and swamps being drained. In 1918, the governments of United States and Canada closed the hunting season on the wood ducks for the next 23 years. Limited bag limits and increased protection of their habitat resulted with their numbers increasing until 1960.
At this time, conservationists began placing wood duck nesting boxes in their favorite habitats and their numbers increased, so that today the boxes are a common site to those that visit their favorite habitat.
At one time the commission placed out metal cylinders that were approximately 12 inches in diameter and 36 inches long; however, these metal cylinders were expensive. Today these boxes are made of wood, which do not last as long but are much cheaper. Flying squirrels, screech owls, sparrow hawks, and many others also use these boxes.
I have found that the best place to erect boxes are over the water on a beaver dam or a pond that contains trees and other vegetations. This appears to cut down on predation.
The wood duck's call occurs when the female is alarmed. The call is a hoo-eek, hoo-eek and a sharp cr-r-ek, cr-re-ek. This call is also used to establish contract with the male. The male's alarm call is a sparrowlike Jeeeeer- which is a high pitch and rising at the end. The hen appears to be more vocal than the male.
The male wood duck is easily identified. It is a medium- sized duck, with a dark iridescent head; slick-backed crest; eyes are orange-red; head striped with white; bill is a variegated pattern of red, yellow, black, and white; a white throat, with breast and neck a rich burgundy; the back is dark and iridescent, with a belly of white; dark wings and a dark, square tail.
The female has a grayish head, with a crest, and prominent white ring around the dark brown eyes; bill is black; a white throat; breast and flanks are brownish, with brownish underparts streaked with white.
Wood ducks take off from the water in a vertical bound. Their flight is swift and direct
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.