Wood ducks are an enigma. Woodies can be reclusive, solitary and live an ascetic life, frequenting remote beaver ponds and floodings in the wilderness hundreds of miles from civilization. Or they can be found in a pond next to the local golf course or in your neighbor’s flooded backyard. Wood ducks are quite adaptable. Their numbers have soared in recent decades because, as America’s forests have aged, they’ve provided wood ducks new places to nest and procreate, and they’ve taken advantage of it.
When my dad started hunting, you couldn’t even shoot wood ducks. Many states didn’t allow harvesting wood ducks until 1959, and bag limits were one or two birds. Since then, wood ducks have flourished to the point that in the Great Lakes states, they are the second most common duck harvested for many years. The recovery of the wood duck rivals the comeback of the wild turkey.
Two factors – marketing hunting and habitat destruction – caused the wood duck’s initial decline. Few realize it, but wood ducks were among the most heavily harvested birds by market hunters. Common across eastern North America, where the bulk of the human population resided, wood ducks were hunted eight months of the year until 1918, when the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed.
Fortunately, without the relentless hunting pressure, wood duck numbers began to recover, and suitable habitat was available to facilitate the comeback. Unchecked clear-cutting of the landscape during the 1800s and early 1900s spared bottomlands that were annually flooded and gnarly river floodplains and sloughs. It was precisely the type of habitat in which wood ducks thrived.
Wood ducks began their comeback under the radar. Wood duck populations were deemed to have reached huntable numbers by 1941 when the first season was allowed, but many states chose to err on the side of caution and didn’t allow wood duck harvest until the late 1950s. I know when my dad was lucky enough to bag a wood duck, it was a prize to be cherished.
“We know the upswing in wood duck numbers in recent years is directly tied to old-growth forest,” said Greg Soulliere, former USFS Regional Science Coordinator for the Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Venture. “The maturation of the forest has paralleled a time when we’ve had fairly stable wetland conditions across much of the wood duck range, and they have responded favorably.”
Unlike other ducks, it’s hard to estimate precisely how many wood ducks there are because of the habitat they prefer. Estimating wood duck populations by aircraft is nearly impossible due to the forested habitat and thick vegetation in which they nest. “Helicopters have helped in surveying wood duck populations, “added Soulliere. Still, biologists rely on four main tools for estimating wood duck populations: 1) the annual Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), 2) monitoring of nesting boxes, 3) examining wings from harvested birds at annual Wing Bees, and 4) recovery of leg bands and hunter harvest surveys.
“The fact that wood duck populations are hard to survey is reflected in the parameters researchers use to estimate populations,” said Soulliere. “When estimating mallard populations, biologists use a correction factor of 3. Regarding wood ducks, the correction factor is 10. Population trends in recent years seem to parallel the BBS closely.”
Wood duck populations continue to increase and expand even though bottomlands are still being drained and cleared at an alarming rate. The maturation of the country’s forests has helped wood ducks.
“The history of forestry from 1870 to 1930 was to clear-cut harvest every single tree,” said Soulliere. “Now the industry practices selective harvest, and since about 1950, the number of cavities in 12-inch or large trees has increased exponentially. There are lots of nesting cavities now that we have an abundance of trees maturing.”
Soulliere also pointed out that wood ducks are more terrestrial than any other duck. “It’s not uncommon for a wood duck to nest one or two miles from wetland habitat if they can find a suitable nesting cavity.” It can be a peerless journey for the brood, but a large percentage of the ducklings make it.
I remember turkey hunting many years ago, setting up against a grove of mature beech trees. I enjoyed watching a pair of woodies come and go from a cavity in one tree. The nesting site was a good mile from the river, but I’d bet the ducklings survived the journey.
Nesting boxes are nothing new. Concerned conservationists began placing nesting boxes along the Illinois River in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the last couple of decades that building nesting boxes became a popular activity for Boy Scout troops, conservation clubs, and concerned property owners, and wood ducks have responded accordingly.
A college friend has done exceptionally well in life and has a palatial estate, complete with several ponds that have become a wildlife cornucopia. He decided to put up a couple of wood duck houses to see if he could attract some of the resplendent specimens. The first year, the woodies showed an interest in the temporary quarters, but didn‘t use the boxes. The following year, he found both boxes in use, so he added three more. All five had inhabitants the following year, so he increased the housing complex to 14 boxes. All of them were occupied this spring.
Wood ducks are extremely philopatric, meaning they tend to return to the exact breeding location each year. Experts will tell you nesting boxes are preferred over natural cavities in many cases. There’s little doubt that nesting boxes have helped the wood duck population flourish.
The Great Lakes Region has an abundance of prime wood duck habitat, and older studies have reported an annual population increase of between 9 and 16%. That number may be even higher now.
Some of the best habitat is along the many streams and rivers the region is known for. Ducklings can find plenty of aquatic and terrestrial insects in the overhanging tag alders common along rivers. The vegetation also provides safety. Most wood duck broods are still around when the season opens. Setting up on an adjacent slough, backwater, or floating navigable bodies of water can produce exceptional hunting.
Wildlife managers raised the wood duck limit in the Great Lakes Region to three birds per day a few years ago, and there was talk of raising the limit to four birds without impacting the population. Waterfowl hunters are thankful wood duck populations are booming because mallard populations in the Great Lakes Region continue to tank. Mallard numbers are less than half what they were 20 years ago. If it weren’t for wood ducks, it might not be worth going duck hunting.
Wood duck numbers continue to flourish because they are so adaptive. They can pull off a brood in a remote flooding or in a backyard pond. In the fall, wood ducks are just as likely to gather on a suburban pond as on an expansive flooded bottomland. Fall rains create temporary habitats that woodies love, such as sheet water in cornfields and oak forests inundated with autumn deluges. The place doesn’t have to be large, but it helps if the spot is secluded. I’ve come to refer to these as wood duck holes. You may have to search to find them, or they might be right under your nose.
