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The wood duck is by far my favorite waterfowl species to photograph. They are stunningly beautiful with their blue green crest. The wood ducks feathers range from iridescent greens and blues to chestnut reds and white. Each feather has an ornate pattern.

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We have had about two dozen wood ducks frequent our wildlife pond along the North Shore this spring. Every morning for about two weeks they landed on the pond to feed and court the females. The females were outnumbered every morning. One morning twenty-four males were fighting over one lone female. It seemed that she had already picked her mate so most of the fighting was her mate trying to fend off the other males as you can see above.

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Some of the males would display their feathers and paddle fast to bring themselves out of the water trying to attract the female.

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Wood ducks are very cautious making it quite difficult to photograph them.

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Any sound or movement will cause them to fly away. I use a camouflaged blind in order to get close to the ducks.

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Getting into the blind is the trick. The wood ducks fly in about 4:15 a.m. so I have to be in the blind before 4:00. I couldn’t get up that early on a daily basis but the chance of getting within feet of a colorful male wood duck along with the sights and sounds experienced that time of day make it well worth the effort.

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