Plant Diet of Wood Ducks

The wood duck is a common species of waterfowl that breeds in North America. These ducks exist as far north as Nova Scotia in the summertime to the Gulf of Mexico in the winter. They inhabit wooded areas along lakes and other wetlands and eat a variety of foods depending on the stage of life they are in. For those caring for a wood duck in captivity, keep a diet consistent with what they would experience in their natural habitat and release the duck into the wild as soon as possible because they are not meant to be pets.

  1. Newborn Duck Diet

    • Do not feed newborn wood ducklings plants or other vegetation. For the first six weeks of life, these ducklings eat primarily a protein diet consisting of insects and small fish, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These newborn ducks do not eat plants until they pass the age of six weeks.

    Young Duck Diet

    • Introduce plants into the diet of a wood duck beginning at six weeks. At six weeks, wood ducks change their diet dramatically. Within a short time, the wood duck goes from an exclusive protein diet to one that is 90 percent vegetable. These ducks will feast on a variety of plant life that includes algae, watermeal (a small, free-floating seedy water plant), sago pondweed and duckweed, according to the USDA.

    Adult Duck Diet

    • Feed an adult wood duck a diet that includes plants and proteins. When a wood duck reaches adulthood, their diet changes again. This diet is combination of proteins and plants. The wood duck will begin eating insects that live in the water as well as other invertebrates in their habitat, but they will also feed on plants. The adult wood duck chooses to eat more nuts, fruit and seeds than the younger version of the species, according to the USDA.

    Winter Feeding

    • Wood ducks travel south in the winter to escape cold temperatures that destroy the plant life they eat. Some areas may still prove difficult for ducks to find their preferred foods and this particular species will often turn to foraging on the floor of the forest to find its nourishment, according to the USDA. Acorns provide the main source of sustenance for wood ducks in the winter. They also eat the seeds of cypress trees, hickory and wild rice.

    Managing Food in the Habitat

    • To provide a healthy nesting area for wood ducks, the USDA recommends taking certain measures to ensure the habitat is adequate for feeding wood ducks. Plant and preserve trees, shrubs and herbaceous food plants, restore water to drained wooded wetlands and replace vegetation in those areas. Water should be provided in the form of artificial wetlands or winter water sources for the habitat.