Wood Duck

Wood Duck aka. Carolina Duck
Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California, USA
February 2018
Member of the Duck, Goose, and Swan Family
§A Flush of Ducks§


{Etymology Corner} Wood Duck is slang for a sucker or rube (I would argue infrequently used). Apparently it's 70's era lingo from the used car salesman community. No information presents itself on how this originated/why it would make sense.

~true bird fact~ A very different kind of duck from what we usually see, at least physiologically. Wood Ducks have sharply clawed feet, which they use to perch in trees near water. Wood Ducklings are born into nest cavities and have to leap up to 50 feet into the ground or water and can do so without injury. So all those videos of people 'helping' baby ducks by catching them as they jump out of their nest can go take a hike as far as I'm concerned.

You know that quote about 'dance like no one's watching'? Wood Duck always acts like someone's watching him.
Master of the celebrity encounter name drop
Gets a lot of his food at the farmer's market



 How Endangered Were They? A distinctly North American species, Wood Ducks never had much of a range outside of the USA and Canada (they're in other places now because they were popular ornamental birds). This was bad news for Wood Ducks during the height of American expansionism. They were actually on the verge of serious trouble by the late 19th century, both because of loss of habitat, and because of hunting, mainly for their feathers (the infamous 19th century fancy hat industry strikes again).

Happily, Wood Ducks are doing much better now, because at that crucial moment, some sweeping government regulation was enacted to protect them. The 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act declared them a protected species, and, along with the introduction of constructed nesting boxes, enabled them to bounce back. You know who else helped? Beavers, who also have a rebounding population, and happen to naturally make perfect Wood Duck habitats. So thanks beavers, and thanks reasonable regulations, for making this bird alive. And of course, zero thanks to our current president, who is choosing to roll back the Migratory Bird Treaty Act's protections for birds after 100 years of success stories like this. Hopefully this move loses him the bird vote.