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Wood Duck - Requirements
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
Requirements and Limiting Factors
Habitat Component |
Habitat Requirements |
Food - Young |
Insects, aquatic invertebrates, small
fish, and other high-protein animal material. |
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Aquatic plants such as algae, watermeal,
watershield, sago pondweed, and duckweed. |
Food - Adult |
Seeds of oaks, bald cypress, hickory,
sweet gum, beech, button bush, arrow-arum, bur-reed, wild rice, and other
mast-producing plants. |
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Aquatic insects and other
invertebrates. |
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Aquatic plants and seeds |
Nesting Cover |
Natural tree cavities or artificial
nesting boxes in deciduous woodlands in close proximity to rivers,
wetlands, and other suitable aquatic habitats used for brood
rearing. |
Brood-Rearing
Cover |
Shallow water for foraging on
invertebrates and aquatic plants that contain some protective cover from
predators. A ratio of 50 to 75 percent cover to 25 to 50 percent open
water is preferred. |
Winter Cover |
Bottomland hardwood wetlands with an
abundance of partially submerged downed timber, shrubs, and woody
debris. |
Water |
Water requirements are met where wetlands
suitable as brood-rearing and wintering habitat exist. |
Interspersion |
Prefer a complex of forested wetland
habitats that include live forest, green-tree reservoirs, rivers, oxbows,
riparian corridors, beaver ponds, shrub-scrub and robust emergent
herbaceous wetlands. |
Minimum Habitat
Size |
At least 10 acres of wetland or other
aquatic habitat should be available in a contiguous unit or in isolated
parcels separated by no more than 100 feet of upland in close proximity to
nesting habitat. |
Limiting Factors
For planning purposes, inventory the site to determine the availability of
each of the basic habitat components, based on the above narrative habitat
requirement descriptions. Habitat components that are absent or rated low are
limiting the value of the habitat for woodducks.
Inventory of Limiting Factors |
Habitat
Component |
Availability/Quality |
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High |
Medium |
Low |
Absent |
Food |
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Nesting Cover |
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Winter cover (may not be applicable if
wood ducks do not winter in the area) |
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Water |
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Interspersion of habitat
components |
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Minimum habitat size |
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Heartwood Wood Duck Joy Box Birdhouse
John James Audubon did some of his most famous bird drawings as he explored on foot along the Natchez Trace, which happens to be located near Star, Mississippi, where we design and make all our Heartwood homes. While birding has come a long way since Audubon's time, today with our four-season nesting boxes and basic homes, you don't need to go to anywhere to enjoy all manner of wonderful bird life flocking to your door. Discreet complements to any landscape, these hardy havens are convenient, long lasting and beautiful-the picture perfect start to your life in birding!
Season after season, this delightful nesting box is a joy to behold and a breeze to maintain thanks to easy twist latch and slide-front panel that also inverts for winter roosting. So easy to use, so easy to love, it turns birding into child's play! Rugged construction features 13/16" solid cypress and headed ring shank stainless steel nails. Dimensions: 11" x 12" x 24 1/2"; 4" hole
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Coveside Bufflehead Duck House
The Bufflehead, with its striking white sides and
white patch on its head, is smaller than most cavity nesting
ducks.Dependent on nest boxes, this house is ideal due to the scarcity of holes
excavated by a large woodpecker or flicker. RANGE: Breeds in Alaska east to
western Quebec, and south in mountains to Washington and Montana. Winters in
southern U.S., south to Mexico, Gulf Coast and northern Florida. HABITAT:
Nests on wooded lakes and ponds; winters mainly on salt bays and
estuaries. (17-3/4"h x 9-1/4"w x 11"d)
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Coveside Common Merganser Duck House
This
house provides a perfect nest box for mergansers that normally nest in tree
cavities. Positioning a house on a pole in the open water
provides extra protection from predators. RANGE: Breeds
across Canada from eastern Alaska, Manitoba and Newfoundland south in mountains
to California, northern New Mexico, Great Lakes and northern New England.
Winters south to northern Mexico and Georgia; also in
Eurasia. HABITAT: Breeds on wooded rivers and ponds; winters
mainly on lakes and rivers, occasionally on salt water. (24-1/4"h x 11"w x 13"d)
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Coveside Small Wood Duck House
"Dump
nesting" occurs when a number of females lay eggs in a single house, which
sometimes results in clutches with over 70 eggs.
Mississippi State University did a study of Wood Ducks in
an effort to reduce this problem. A smaller nest box was designed and "dump
nesting" was reduced. Although fewer ducklings are fledged from each box, the
survival rate is improved and the cost per fledgling is less. This box comes
with a wire ladder and nesting chips, and the front opens for observation and
cleaning. RANGE: Breeds from British Columbia south to
California, and from Montana east to Nova Scotia, and south to Texas and
Florida; absent from Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Winters near Pacific
Coast north to Washington, and to New Jersey in East, rarely further
north. HABITAT: Nests beside wooded rivers and ponds. Visits
freshwater marshes in late summer and fall. (17"h
x 7-1/2"w x 15"d)
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Coveside Wood Hooded Merganser Duck House
Coveside's Wood Duck House opens two ways for
observation and cleaning, and has an internal ladder for the duckings to climb
out. Mother calls ducklings to the protection of the open
water at age one day. RANGE: Breeds from British Columbia
south to California, and from Montana east to Nova Scotia, and south to Texas
and Florida; absent from Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Winters near Pacific
Coast north to Washington, and to New Jersey in East, rarely further north.
HABITAT: Nests beside wooded rivers and ponds. Visits
freshwater marshes in late summer and fall. (24-1/4"h x 11"w x 15"d)
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Woodside Gardens
The Registry of Nature Habitats
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All Rights Reserved
Last Updated:
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