Wood duck
Aix sponsa (Linnaeus, 1758)
The wood duck (Aix sponsa) is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes. It falls in the small size class, with an adult body mass of 637 to 680 g and a wingspan of 68 to 74 cm.
Quick facts about the wood duck
The wood duck is an omnivore of wetland habitats, classed as a sedentary generalist with a geographic range of 6,192,000 km². Its eggs incubate for 30 days, clutch size is 11.8 with 1.5 clutches per year, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
- Weight
- 637 g – 680 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 68 cm – 74 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 22.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 30 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 11.8src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the wood duck?
Photos of the wood duck
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the wood duck live?
Not recorded
What is the wood duck?
The wood duck or Carolina duck (Aix sponsa) is a partially migratory species of perching duck found in North America. The male is one of the most colorful North American waterfowls.
From the Wikipedia article “Wood duck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wood_duck&oldid=1374507189), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the wood duck sound like?
Is the wood duck endangered?
The wood duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the wood duck classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusAix
- SpeciesAix sponsa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Anas sponsa, Dendronessa spora
Other names and names in other languages (76)
- Acorn duckEnglish
- American wood duckEnglish
- Carolina duckEnglish
- Carolina wood duckEnglish
- North American wood duckEnglish
- Summer duckEnglish
- بط الخشبArabic
- بط الغياضArabic
- بطة الغياضArabic
- coríu arboreuAsturian
- Качка-каралінкаBelarusian
- КаролинкаBulgarian
- Каролинска патицаBulgarian
- Houad CarolinaBreton
- ànec de CarolinaCatalan
- kachnička karolinskáCzech
- kachnička karolínskáCzech
- hwyaden coedWelsh
- Hwyaden y coedWelsh
- BrautenteGerman
- ΝυφόπαπιαGreek
- ΔενδρόπαπιαGreek
- ArbanasoEsperanto
- arbara anasoEsperanto
- Karolina anasoEsperanto
- Pato huyuyoSpanish
- HuyuyoSpanish
- Pato arcoirisSpanish
- Pato ArcoírisSpanish
- Pato joyuyoSpanish
- mõrsjapartEstonian
- اردک جنگلیPersian
- morsiosorsaFinnish
- Aix branchuFrench
- Canard branchuFrench
- Canard carolinFrench
- Lacha choilleIrish
- Laagh cheylleyScottish Gaelic
- Pato carolinoGalician
- מנדרין אמריקניHebrew
- ברווז עציםHebrew
- američka mandarinkaCroatian
- Karolinai réceHungarian
- kisasszonyréceHungarian
- BrúðöndIcelandic
- Anatra sposaItalian
- アメリカオシJapanese
- アメリカオシドリJapanese
- მეხეური იხვიGeorgian
- 미국원앙Korean
- 아메리카원앙Korean
- BrautintLuxembourgish
- miškinė antisLithuanian
- koku pīleLatvian
- Itik KayuMalay
- Naalʼeełí naashchʼąąʼígííNavajo
- brudeandNorwegian Bokmål
- Carolina-eendDutch
- Mitigoningwiishib (Kiinikoceship)Ojibwa
- karolinkaPolish
- pato-carolinoPortuguese
- Raţă de pădureRomanian
- Rață cu ochi de șoimRomanian
- каролинская уткаRussian
- HearvasuorsáNorthern Sami
- moarsesuorsáNorthern Sami
- kačička obojkováSlovak
- nevesticaSlovenian
- brudandSwedish
- மர வாத்துTamil
- Orman ÖrdeğiTurkish
- karolin ördeğiTurkish
- КаролінкаUkrainian
- Vịt gỗVietnamese
- 林鴛鴦Chinese
- 林鸳鸯Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the wood duck
Other species in the same genus Aix.
Mandarin duck
Aix galericulata
CompareWood duck vs Mandarin duck
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the wood duck?
The wood duck is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, in the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes.
How big is a wood duck?
The wood duck is in the small size class, weighing 637 to 680 g as an adult, with a wingspan of 68 to 74 cm.
What does a wood duck eat?
The wood duck is an omnivore.
What habitat does the wood duck live in?
The wood duck lives in wetland habitats.
Is the wood duck endangered?
No. The wood duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a wood duck live?
The wood duck has a lifespan of 22.5 years.
How many eggs does a wood duck lay?
The wood duck has a clutch size of 11.8 eggs, with 1.5 clutches per year and an incubation period of 30 days.
Who named the wood duck?
The wood duck, Aix sponsa, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Wood duck (Aix sponsa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/wood-duck
“Wood duck (Aix sponsa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/wood-duck.
@misc{wood_duck_2026,
title = {Wood duck (Aix sponsa)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/wood-duck},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}