Seen more and more frequently in southern Quebec, the wood duck (Aix sponsa), dazzles the observer with its plumage and fascinates with its tree-related activities.

This close relative of the Asian mandarin duck is easily the most beautiful of our ducks. When it returns here in April, the male flashes his magnificent coat, his red eyes and beak and his long greenish crest — to seduce the females.

These latter are more discreet, with their brown-speckled plumage, a brilliant patch of blue on their wings close to the body, and a white eye patch. Each couple, once formed, stays together all season. This is the only duck that regularly produces two clutches a season, each hatching 10 to 13 ducklings.

The well-named wood duck is also the only duck in North America that roosts in trees. The strong claws on its webbed feet allow it to grip the bark and branches and reach the holes in trees where it nests. It is unable to dig into the wood with its duck beak, of course, so it uses tree cavities dug by woodpeckers, particularly pileated woodpeckers, and nesting boxes placed close to bodies of water.

The wood duck paddles around in the shallow waters of flooded forests, streams, lakes and ponds where it feeds on vegetation, aquatic insects and crustaceans. When it dives, it reduces its oxygen consumption and can stay underwater for more than a minute. It also scrabbles around in the soil looking for seeds, fruits, spiders and insects.

Early in the 20th century, this magnificent duck was close to extinction due to over-hunting, drying of wetlands and commercial utilization of the large trees it needs for nesting. The wood duck is also menaced by the overbreeding of raccoons, one of its main predators, and of grackles, which sometimes take over its nest.

Control of hunting, installation of nesting boxes, protection of waterfront strips and the retention of good-sized dead trees close to bodies of water have, fortunately, brought a significant increase in the population of this remarkable bird, which is now present in the maple and fir groves of southern Quebec.

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