Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
Requirements and Limiting Factors
| Habitat Component |
Habitat Requirements |
| Food - Young |
Insects, aquatic invertebrates, small
fish, and other high-protein animal material. |
| |
Aquatic plants such as algae, watermeal,
watershield, sago pondweed, and duckweed. |
| Food - Adult |
Seeds of oaks, bald cypress, hickory,
sweet gum, beech, button bush, arrow-arum, bur-reed, wild rice, and other
mast-producing plants. |
| |
Aquatic insects and other
invertebrates. |
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Aquatic plants and seeds |
| Nesting Cover |
Natural tree cavities or artificial
nesting boxes in deciduous woodlands in close proximity to rivers,
wetlands, and other suitable aquatic habitats used for brood
rearing. |
| Brood-Rearing
Cover |
Shallow water for foraging on
invertebrates and aquatic plants that contain some protective cover from
predators. A ratio of 50 to 75 percent cover to 25 to 50 percent open
water is preferred. |
| Winter Cover |
Bottomland hardwood wetlands with an
abundance of partially submerged downed timber, shrubs, and woody
debris. |
| Water |
Water requirements are met where wetlands
suitable as brood-rearing and wintering habitat exist. |
| Interspersion |
Prefer a complex of forested wetland
habitats that include live forest, green-tree reservoirs, rivers, oxbows,
riparian corridors, beaver ponds, shrub-scrub and robust emergent
herbaceous wetlands. |
| Minimum Habitat
Size |
At least 10 acres of wetland or other
aquatic habitat should be available in a contiguous unit or in isolated
parcels separated by no more than 100 feet of upland in close proximity to
nesting habitat. |
Limiting Factors
For planning purposes, inventory the site to determine the availability of
each of the basic habitat components, based on the above narrative habitat
requirement descriptions. Habitat components that are absent or rated low are
limiting the value of the habitat for woodducks.
| Inventory of Limiting Factors |
| Habitat
Component |
Availability/Quality |
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High |
Medium |
Low |
Absent |
| Food |
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| Nesting Cover |
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| Winter cover (may not be applicable if
wood ducks do not winter in the area) |
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| Water |
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| Interspersion of habitat
components |
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| Minimum habitat size |
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