Wood duck family

The colors of a male wood duck are amazing.

Female wood duck with her babies.


Mom with some of her offspring. They were swimming under lily pads.

The female wood duck looks very different from the male. She does have some bright colored accents with the yellow around the eyes and purple on her wings.

It's funny how the wood duck babies look like mallards when they are young.

On a recent trip to Lakeland I found a family of wood ducks. I have been seeing wood ducks more often in the past few months than ever before. The male duck is so beautiful. Why is it in the bird/duck world the male always looks prettier than the female vs. in the human world the perception that females are expected to be prettier? I guess male ducks can't attract the female by showing them their paycheck or buying expensive jewelry for them. But that's just my jaded opinion. Anyway, more baby pictures to come!