Tweets,

Can someone tell me how what sort of mating ritual Wood Ducks
have? This weekend at the Lewiston Levee, we spotted a male Wood Duck who
was swimming around and bumping his head up and down while circling a
nearby female. The female, however, was completely prone on the water and
completely still. We observed this for over three minutes; the female
appeared to be dead, she was so still, and her head hung in the water
unlike a Mallard's. We thought this to be a very sad case, but then the
male attempted to mount the female, which caused her to buck him off in a
torrent of flapping. Is this normal for mating (or at least bonding) Wood
Ducks?

-Pat
scott931 at uidaho.edu