#Wood Ducks

[antiqueanimals]

Portrait. Don McCaughey. From Louisiana Conservationist, July-August, 1988.

Internet Archive

[spinus-pinus]

Wood Duck Aix sponsa

2/14/2023 Irvine Regional Park, California

[branchflowerphoto]

australian wood ducks at the dam

[rafefar]

Wood ducks

Sauvie Island, Oregon

[ca-d]

from our walk the other day 🖤

[uwmspeccoll]

A Milwaukee Duck Feathursday

There are field guides and then there are field guides, and the famed Wisconsin conservationist and UW-Madison professor of Wildlife Management Aldo Leopold believes that this field guide is a step above: The Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America by Canadian engineer, businessman, and conservationist Francis H. Kortright (1887–1972), illustrated by the Canadian ornithologist and artist Terence Michael Shortt (1911-1986), and published in Washington, D.C. by the American Wildlife Institute in 1943.

In the introduction to the book, Leopold laments that "the existing literature on the identification of waterfowl describes manly their spring plumages. This is of little avail to the sportsman who is afield mainly in the fall, and it hardly suffices for the ornithologist, who is afield at all seasons." But in this guide, Leopold writes, "Mr. Kortright has sensed the need for a year-round waterfowl book and has done a scholarly job of writing one. . . . I do find much useful and interesting subject matter which most ornithologists omit. . . ." That Kortright has no formal training as a zoologist does not phase Leopold: "While he disclaims being an ornithologist, I detect no lack of ornithological competence in what he has written."

Of the illustrations, he writes, "Mr. Shortt's paintings, portraying all of the more important plumages of a given species, in themselves justify the publication of this volume." That both author and illustrator are Canadians also seems a plus: "To my mind it is appropriate that this book should issue from the pen of a Canadian. Canada is the birthplace of most waterfowl; this book attests her growing activity in waterfowl research and conservation."

We represent this field guide with images of some ducks most commonly found in our Milwaukee area: the Mallard, Wood Duck, and Blue-winged Teal are present in summer, with the Mallard and Wood Duck as year-round residents, while the Mergansers, Bufflehead, and Goldeneye are most prevalent in winter. We end with a couple of plates of random goslings and ducklings. Why? Well, because they're just so darn adorable!

View other posts related to Aldo Leopold.

View more Feathursday posts.

[pademelonluck]

My little Peepers.

They're almost five weeks old now! 😭

@mrmorphea @irishfry A promise is a promise! :)

[northernpintail]

Wood Ducks, Victoria BC

[redrcs]

A Walk in the Park #7

[wingedjewels]

Wood Duck ( Drake ) by Kip Hutchison Via Flickr: Resting time for the Woody.

[antiqueanimals]

"Wood Duck" and "Canada Goose" by Francis Lee Jaques. Spotted in an antique store as menu covers for the Tidewater Inn, 1950.

[spinus-pinus]

Wood Duck Aix sponsa

5/21/2023 Irvine Regional Park, California

[chillypepperhot]

Wood Ducks enjoying an Autumn Morning.

Source Me laf@ilyF ❤️

[fbwzoo]

Arte found this lil baby in his window well this morning, jumping and peeping away! Poor little one got separated from mom, but lucky enough to get stuck at our house, and we found them before any of the 15 outdoor cats on our street.

Baby is a wood duckling! They're smaller than mallard ducklings, they jump A LOT, and the line from their eye only goes backwards, it doesn't go between the eye and bill. Wood ducklings are also more fragile and easily stressed than mallard ducklings, so it's extra important not to handle more than strictly necessary, and to keep them in a dark, quiet place until you can get them to rehab.

This unlucky/lucky baby was taken to a local rehab along with a donation for all of the wonderful work they do!

[thesingingbullfrog]

Wood duck family

[inthecityofgoodabode]

April 2024: Sunday Quest

In this post, I mentioned finding some irises growing wild & receiving a quest from my queen to retrieve seven. This is the tale...

It's always nice when something is where you left it... like my walking stick that I leave at this abandoned building site:

Hairy vetch in the wild:

The woods where the great blue herons roost:

Like any good adventure, there were side quests. The first was to locate an ear bud I had lost in this field the day before. It was not recovered:

But I did get to see a lot of crawfish chimneys:

The second side quest was to venture into the woods to see if I could spot some nesting herons.

Wood ducks. This is as close as they'd let me get:

This was the only great blue heron that I saw in the woods:

I finally got back on track & headed towards where the irises were located with a couple of distractions on the way:

Heading home with a backpack full of irises for my queen. From start to finish, the trek was 6.75 miles:

The well-earned reward - steak & peas with grilled peppers, onions & fruit: