A pair of beautiful ducks

By Aaron Horrell

In this photo a female wood duck, called a hen, swims ahead of a male wood duck, called a drake.

The drake is one of North America's most colorful birds. The range of colors on his head alone is quite striking.

The hen is very ordinary in color by comparison to her mate. Her lower body is speckled gray and white. Her upper-body plumage is drab. When sitting or quietly feeding along a vegetative shoreline, she can be very difficult to see.

A hen will nest in a hole in a tree or a man-made wood duck box made of short boards and posted in or near shallow water. She will lay eight to 12 white eggs in her nest. When the ducklings hatch, they will jump from the nest hole to the ground, incurring no harm. The new family can sometimes be seen with the little babies riding on their mother's back as she swims.

April is a good time of year to look for wood ducks in ponds and swampy areas.