This weekend we went for a walk at one our favourite places, the Duck Pond at St. Vital Park. Bird watching is one of my hobbies, and the pond is fairly close to where we live. This is a photo of one of the many ducks we saw there, a male wood duck. We were there in the late afternoon, and it was a beautiful sunny and warm day. I was fairly close to this duck, maybe ten feet away–its a pretty busy place so all the ducks and geese are used to people being near them. The wood ducks are the least used to people though, so if you want to get really close you have to move slowly. The wood duck is one of the most colourful ducks you can see in Manitoba, they are green, black, white, tan, orange and even a little red! The males are the most colourful, while the females are brown. Wood ducks are smaller than mallards, and they actually nest in trees, which is why they’re called wood ducks. Most ducks make a quacking sound, but wood ducks have a much different call. The males make a high pitched whistling sound, and the females have more of a deep “chirp-chirp!” call. I like wood ducks for a few reasons: first, they’re really beautiful. Second, they are harder to spot and fun to watch when you find them. Last, they remind me of starting my bird watching hobby, something I really enjoy doing.

Have you ever seen a wood duck?