Aix sponsa
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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. The wood duck was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas sponsa. Linnaeus based his account on the "summer duck" from Carolina that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in the first volume of his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that was published between 1729 and 1731. Linnaeus specified the type locality as North America but this has been restricted to Carolina following Catesby. The wood duck is now placed together with the mandarin duck in the genus Aix that was introduced in 1828 by the German naturalist Friedrich Boie. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The genus name is an Ancient Greek word for an unidentified diving bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific epithet sponsa is Latin meaning "bride" (from spodere meaning "pledge").
The wood duck is a medium-sized perching duck.... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SeaWorld Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Busch Gardens Tampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Shedd Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | California Academy of Sciences | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Parc Phœnix | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Réserve africaine de Sigean | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Abilene Zoological Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Ecomuseum Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 15 | Zoobotánico Jerez | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 16 | Zoo sauvage Saint-Félicien | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 17 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Taipei Zoo | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 20 | Parque Zoológico | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 21 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Yumka' | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 24 | Kansas City Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Ramat Gan Safari | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 26 | Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Tehran Birds Garden | 🇮🇷 Iran | |
| 28 | Parque Zoológico de León - Zooleón | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 29 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 30 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | The Maryland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 32 | Wildlife World Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 33 | Antalya Zoo | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | |
| 34 | Guadalajara Zoo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 35 | Novosibirsk Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 36 | Dakota Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 37 | Hellabrunn Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 38 | Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 39 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 40 | Saint Louis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 41 | Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 42 | Southwick's Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 43 | Terra Natura Benidorm | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 44 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 45 | Temaikén | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 46 | Night Safari | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 47 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 48 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 49 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 50 | Chișinău Zoo | 🇲🇩 Moldova |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Duck sighting in Houston on a given day, based on 1,148 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 84th most-seen of the 302 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and August–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Duck in Houston on a given day, against under 5% in May–July and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wood Duck sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 46
Of the 46 cities where we can rate Wood Duck sightings, Houston ranks 22nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, about 40%), Vancouver (Canada, about 30%) and Montreal (Canada, about 20%).
Same family: Anatidae
The closest relatives of the Wood Duck that you can see in Houston (family Anatidae, Ducks, Geese, and Swans) are Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (about 30%), Muscovy Duck (about 10%) and Mallard (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wood Duck is recorded against all the birds logged in Houston (1,148 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
