Wood Ducks are among the most stunning ducks, rivaling Mandarin Ducks from Asia. I have been looking in New Jersey to photograph them for several years, going in vain to places where people have reported seeing them. Then yesterday, while I was taking pictures at Colonial Lake about 5 miles from home, I saw two ducks jump down from a tree onto the lake. It was a beautiful couple of Wood Ducks, and they were worth waiting for all this time!
As usual for ducks, the male Wood Duck was more striking, but the female was very pretty.
Female Wood Duck.
Male Wood Duck.
Male Wood Duck.
Male Wood Duck.
Female and male Wood Ducks.
Female Wood Duck.
neihtn 
Those ducks are so beautiful!
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Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
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Wow that male wood duck looks like an artist has been at work! Such a stunner 🙂
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Thank you Julie! You are so right! These ducks were created by painters. 🙂
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Your amazing photos made me want to know more about wood ducks and their habitats. On the National Wildlife Federation website: If a female cannot find a nest of her own, then she will lay her eggs inside another wood duck’s nest. Thank you for posting about these fascinating creatures.
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Female Wood Ducks do deposit their eggs in nests which are not their own. The term is “intraspecific brood parasitism”, but it sounds worse than it is. 🙂
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Beautiful images of some gorgeous ducks. What perfect lighting to catch all that outrageous color.
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Thank you! The setting sun did provide perfect lighting for these images.
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Oh good, I’m so happy for you! You made some beautiful photographs! They can be shy, but when you have a chance to watch them, what a thrill!
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Thank you Lynn! It was indeed a thrill, and they seemed to ignore me as I kept coming closer to photograph them.
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Ohhhhhhh these are gorgeous! Now you’ve gone and done it! I’ll be on the lookout for those Wood Ducks here! All last Summer I tried in vain to find a male …. only females. Perhaps this Spring my luck will change. They should be here anytime soon now. Oh to look forward to something like this. You deserve a huge applause for these images, Hien! WOWOWOWOW! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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It’s surprising that you only found female Wood Ducks. I hope you will see both male and female this year. Thank you, Amy!
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You are welcome!!🤗
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Stunning birds! Beautiful photographs! Marcus
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Thank you Marcus!
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Definitely our most handsome native duck – great shots!
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Thank you Eliza!
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Oh, my! Those colors are incredible. So glad you finally got your chance to photograph the.
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Thanks Irene! Good photo opportunities come when you least expect it.
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So true! 😊
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So glad you finally got your shots! Beautiful birds!
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Thank you Katelon!
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Stunning colors! So beautifully captured, Hien. 🙂
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Thank you Amy! The colors on these ducks, especially the male, are indeed stunning.
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Love wood ducks. There is the occasional one or two in Central Park. Thank you for sharing the photos – beautiful!
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Thank you! Glad you can see them in Central Park.
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One of the most beautiful ducks on earth. I am so happy for you that you got your first wood ducks, Hien. I remember my first time finding wood ducks, I was mesmerized by how incredibly showy they were. You photos do them great justice.
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Thank you Jet! It was quite a shock for me to see them appear out of the blue (literally) but they lived up to their reputation.
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What a beautiful bird! I love the female’s refined beauty. And the male is very handsome indeed 🙂
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Thank you Takami! I knew they were colorful, but did not expect the male to be so sensational.
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