Birds of Watrous Island SNA

General description: A large puddle duck that's most easily recognized by the male's glossy green head and white neck collar.

Length: About 24 inches long.

Weight: 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.

Color: Male mallards (drakes) have a glossy green head and white neck collar. Females (hens) are mostly brown. Males and young birds look like females in the summer. Both sexes have a blue patch on the wing.

Sounds: Mallards are very vocal. Hens use a loud, long series of quacks; drakes have a low-pitched "wheat" call.

Reproduction
In Minnesota, mallards mate in late winter or early spring. Nests are built in dense vegetation, and hens lay five to 14 eggs, which take 26 to 30 days to hatch. Newborns are covered with down; they begin to fly 49 to 60 days after they're hatched.

Food
Sedge seeds, grasses, smartweeds, aquatic plants and insects, corn, grains, snails and wild rice.

Predators
Foxes, coyotes, skunks, mink and raptors.

Habitat and range
Lakes, marshes and flooded grain fields. Mallards range more widely than any other duck. They're found throughout the United States and Canada during the breeding season, and migrate to many southern states in the fall. They're also found in Africa and Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and almost everywhere in between.

Range and management
The key to future mallard production is protecting wetlands and prairie grasslands throughout Canada, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.

Fun facts
Mallards swim with their tail held above the water, so when trouble comes, they can spring directly out of the water and into the air. less ↑

General description: Broad wings and a long square tail.

Length: About 20 inches.

Weight: One and a half pounds.

Color: The male (drake) has a blue-green crested head with white stripes, a reddish brown breast, buff colored sides and red eyes. Females (hens) are brown with a white speckled breast, crested head, and distinctive white eye ring.

Sounds: A "wee-e-e-e-k, wee-e-e-e-k" whistle by the hen is the most commonly heard wood duck sound.

Reproduction
Wood ducks nest in hollow trees. Female wood ducks pluck down from their breasts to line the nest, where they lay about 10 to 15 eggs during the spring. Hatching takes place 28 to 31 days later. Ducklings begin to fly eight to ten weeks after hatching.

Food
Wood ducks eat acorns, weed seeds, berries, insects, and plants.

Predators
Mink, raccoons, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, and human hunters.

Habitat and range
Wooded river bottoms, flooded hardwood forests and wooded potholes and lakes. Wood ducks nest throughout the United States and southeastern Canada. They spend the winter in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, and other southeastern states, as well as in California.

Population and management
Biologists believe more than 100,000 wood ducks breed in Minnesota each spring. The wood duck was once almost extinct because of habitat loss due to the lack of old, dead trees where these ducks nest. But management efforts, such as the use of artificial nest boxes, have helped restore wood duck populations.

Fun facts
Wood ducks are also called woodies. Unlike most ducks, wood ducks have a strong grip and can perch on branches. less ↑