Carolina Wood Duck: Aix sponsa.
Another subspecies of wood duck. On a similar beauty as the Mandarin the drakes of this species are spectacularly coloured with a dimpled chest. He has a long occipital crest that is metallic green in colour with a purple tinge lined with white. His chin and throat are distinctly white. His bill is yellow, red, white and black. In eclipse he resembles the female plumage. But can be distingusihed by his white cheek patches and no white ring around the eye. He is back into full colour during September gracing the ponds. The femlae is a brown colour with a white ventral region. She has a distinct white ring around the eye with mottled sides. Her bill is black.
Carolinas lay ivory coloured eggs about 5cm x 4cm in size. A clutch consists of around 10 eggs which take 28-30 days to hatch. Nesting occurs in tree holes. These can be at quite a height which the ducklings will drop from but are protected from damage by their light weight and thick layer of down. The ducklings are also born with sharpe claws adapted to climbing and escaping. Ideally a perch should be given to mature birds near or over water.
They originate from North America and Mexico where they tend to inhabit swomp like habitats. I have found them to be less friendly as the other varieties of wildfowl I keep. They make a variety of noises.
Being hardy and social birds make them ideal for small collections like my own.
