- Kathleen Scavone
- Posted On
The Living Landscape: The dazzling wood duck
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For the sheer variety and beauty of avian species, you can't beat Lake County for bird watching.
As an example, the astonishingly eye-catching beauty of a wood duck is unforgettable.
The male of the species sports gleaming green, tan and brown color blocks reminiscent of a Piet Mondrian color composition.
I spotted a pair of wood ducks on Cache Creek one morning while hiking at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park. The quiet elegance of the pair floating on the soft water was breathtaking.
Wood ducks, medium in size at approximately 21 inches in length, are known for using their specially adapted sharp claws to perch in trees, and nest in tree cavities, or specially constructed nesting boxes near marshes and water.
The female wood duck, like most female birds, is subdued in her coloring. She may lay over a dozen eggs if the conditions are right. If wood ducks nest too close together they tend to lay fewer eggs.
After the eggs incubate for about 30 days the tiny ducks are equipped to hop right into the water – up to 50 feet down, without the aid of the parents, and begin fending for themselves.
Other than the call of the mother duck, the hatchlings take to their life in the open, well, like a duck to water!
Omnivores, their food consists of bugs, berries and seeds, for the most part. Luckily, the wood duck count is on the rise once again, but during the 19th century the waterfowl were threatened in areas around the globe due, in part to hunting and loss of habitat.
Thankfully, with the advent of the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, their numbers have slowly risen.
To become involved in bird conservation, you may want to think about building a birdhouse for wood ducks.
The plans can be found at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Web site, listed below, where you may also listen to the distinctive sound of a wood duck: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/id.
For information about the California Wood Duck Program visit its Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/California-Wood-Duck-Program-78713057314/.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also formerly wrote for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.