You're a wood duck!

You were banded in the South Okanagan Valley, and live there year-round, migrating to the coast of British Columbia only if winters are very cold.

A year earlier your parents came here to nest. Your mom laid you and nine other creamy white eggs in an old woodpecker hole. Like most wood ducks, your mom preferred to nest in a natural cavity, or hole in a tree. Many people help wood ducks by putting up wooden “nest boxes” for them to build nests in.

When you’re ready to nest next spring, you’ll look just like your famous dad, with a colourful head and shiny feathers.

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Download a customized certificate (PDF, 900 KB) with your name to show your friends and family!

Banding or marking ducks helps scientists learn more about them and what they need to survive. Protecting wetlands is one way to help ducks.

Fast Facts:

• one of the most colourful and beautiful of ducks
• has sharp claws for perching in trees
• feeds on acorns
• Wood ducks depend on hollows in old trees for nesting
• Through Ducks Unlimited Canada’s efforts people have installed thousands of nest boxes in wetlands to help create plenty of nest spots for wood ducks and others, helping to conserve this beautiful bird.