
Newfoundland Travel - Birding: Wood Duck
Many different species of ducks inhabit the fresh water ponds in the province of Newfoundland, Canada and, for the price of a few scoops of birdseed, most are quite willing to pose for beautiful wildlife photography snapshots. Meet the amazing wood duck.

The beautiful wood duck is one of my favourite species to photograph. Its distinctively rich colors, petite size, and high pitched voice are just a few things I enjoy when encountering wood ducks on my birding expeditions.

The male is extremely attractive with red eyes, a colorful bill, iridescent pathwork feathers, and a lovely long crown. #woodduck #nature #duck #wildlifevery

The female wood duck has white circles around her eyes and more earth toned colorations. Her brown coat enables her to camouflage from predators and increases the likelihood of her, and her chicks, survival. #femalewoodduck, #malewoodduck

For size comparison, here is a male wood duck walking in a grassy field alongside a rock pigeon. #rockpigeon #birding

The male and female wood duck pair in January for their spring mating season.

In mating season, the male wood duck's coloring is quite pronounced and, in addition to his iridescent neon colors, his plumage tones cause his face to appear clown-like as if he has overapplied makeup.




After mating season, the male wood duck loses his feathers and displays what is referred to as eclipse plumage. During the feather loss, ducks lose all of their flight feathers at once and are more vulnerable to attack because they are flightless for a period of time. The duller coat that replaces his vibrant mating colors enable him to hide from predators.
The wood duck in his eclipse plumage has an appearance much different from his breeding coat.
Please follow my travel blog to see more posts about Newfoundland nature and wildlife.