Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male and Female

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male and Female

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male and Female

The wood duck is a fairly common duck that can be found in a large portion of the United States, and it is for that reason I have made it my focus the past few months. I have only been seriously birding for the past couple of years so I have taken to adding common birds to my "list" and then crossing them off as I find them- and usually I can find them by just looking hard enough in the right places. I have not had any trouble with this method until the elusive wood duck. It has been 6 months since I started looking for one until, finally, I saw this pair of wood ducks in Green Lake in Seattle, Washington, on the afternoon of May 31st, 2011. I spent hours scouring the lake for any ducks, and it was slim pickings- there were several bald eagles hunting over the lake, and any ducks that were around were spotted generally hiding and not in open water. Once I came across this pair I had to track them for about 30 minutes in order to get good pictures, and I was lucky that they were close enough that no binoculars were needed to get a good look.

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) - Male

Besides the males being absolutely gorgeous- these ducks are cool because they have sharp claws on their feet that enable them to climb and perch in trees. You can see him using them in these pictures to scratch his chin. You can read more about this duck here, and more about sexual dimorphism here.