find mama and let it go home, mom knows best

Most naturalists agree the male Wood Duck is North America’s most gorgeous bird. Its color pattern is resplendent with rich chestnut, splashes of black and white, golden flanks, and even red eyelids arrayed amidst iridescent greens, purples, and bronze. In addition to all of this, the feathers of the head form a crest, as if a final touch of splendor were needed. The female has a rather nondescript grayish brown body and gray-crested head, with a prominent white ring nearly the eye. Even in flight at distances where none of its brilliant colors can be seen, the Wood Duck remains a distinctive bird. Its holds its had higher than the level of its back with the bill pointed downward at a sharp angle. It has a long squarish tail and a small neck. The call note, which is often expressed in flight. Is a squealing hoo-eek, hoo-eek.
This species and the Hooded Merganser are among the few North American ducks that normally nest in hollow trees. The nest of the Wood Duck is placed at heights varying from 4 to as much as 50 feet from the ground. The nest cavity itself may be quite shallow or as much as 6 feet deep. No materials are transported to the nest, but down feathers from the breast are used to moderate the normal compliment of 10 to 15 dull white or creamy white eggs. Nesting boxes of the proper size, erected specifically for Wood Ducks, have met with splendid success.
The cutting of the forests, drainage of swamplands, excessive hunting pressure, and, doubtless higher than all, the commercial transfer in feathers for artificial trout flies nearly led to the Wood Duck’s extinction. Timely action in 1918 forbade the killing of the species both in the United States and Canada, and the bird has now made a notable comeback. In view of the fact that 1941 limited hunting has been permitted. In the point system currently in force, the Wood Duck is a 90-point bird. With hunters being allowed 100 points, he can have in his bag two Wood Ducks, provided he has nothing else.
Some people object to the point system on the g round that learning to tell the species apart is too hard a task. But first-rate sportsmen already know how to recognize the various kinds of ducks both on the water and in the air, and beginners will find mastering the art adds immeasurably to the fun of hunting.
A few brief words should be said about the classuc argument among naturalists and sportsmen concerning the question of how young Wood Ducks get out of their nests high uo in hollow trees. Some have said that the mother bird carries them in her bill down to the water. Others have claimed that the baby chicks ride on the mother’s back or are carried between her feet. Still others have insisted that the ducklings climb from the floor of the nest to the entrance by using the sharp nails on their claws, jump spread-eagled into space, and hit the ground or water with their tiny feet outstretched. All three explanations have alleged eyewitness testimony to support them, though the last has been most frequently observed. Perhaps, as Audubon told us long ago, Wood Ducks vary their methods of getting young to water according to circumstance.
Some being ago, I am Told, an investigator trying to incubate and raise Wood Ducks in captivity for experiment met with splendid frustration. His hatchlings refused to eat and promptly died of starvation. Then one day he happened to drop one. Immediately, according to the tale, it started to search for food. So he lifted aloft his other downy young Wood Ducks and let them fall. They started at once to look for something to eat. This tale led to the thought that a baby Wood Duck’s life is a series of rigid programmed events, each of which is needed to trigger the next. Sorry to say for the theory, other breeders of Wood Ducks, notably Peter Scott, a British waterfowl specialist of worldwide fame, and our own John T. Lynch, have been raising these birds successfully without knowing that they needed to be dropped before commencing to eat.
The Wood Duck is a moderately common permanent resident throughout the heavily wooded swamps of the state. In the northern parishes it is possibly somewhat less numerous in winter than in summer, but in southern Louisiana its population appears to increase slightly in the cold months. Result a Wood Duck in the coastal marshes is scarce, though a few instances are on confirmation. But they seem out of place in a setting without trees. Possibly they go to the marshes only in the daytime to feed, returning at night to some wooded swamp on the northern edge of the marshland belt

Natural cavities for nesting are scarce, and the Wood Duck readily uses nest boxes provided for it. If nest boxes are placed too accurate together, many females lay eggs in the nests of other females. These “dump” nests can have up to 40 eggs.

The Wood Duck nests in trees near water, sometimes directly over water, but other times up to 2 km (1.2 mi) away. After hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to water. The mother calls them to her, but does not help them in any way. The ducklings may jump from heights of up to 89 m (290 ft) without injury.

The Wood Duck is a well loved game bird, and is following only to the Mallard in numbers shot each year in the United States.

Wood Ducks pair up in January, and most birds arriving at the breeding grounds in the spring are already paired. The Wood Duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one year.

Female makes loud “oo-eek, oo-eek” when disturbed and taking flight. Male has thin, rising and falling zeeting whistle.

Male brightly patterned, female dull gray brown.

Medium-sized duck.
Crest on head.
Long tail.
White patches in face.

Size: 47-54 cm (19-21 in)
Wingspan: 66-73 cm (26-29 in)
Weight: 454-862 g (16.03-30.43 ounces

A colorful duck of wooded swamps and streamsides, the Wood Duck is one of only a few North American ducks that nest in trees. Many people consider it to be the most gorgeous of all waterfowl.

Wildlife First Aid

FEEDING WATERFOWL
FOOD PREPARATION

Feed duck feed – Buy duck pellets from Agway or a further feed store and mash them for very young birds. If the bird is older, you can feed them whole. In both cases add hot water to let the pellets soften. Add shredded lettuce, baby spinach or spring salad.

Rip up the greens so that they are controllable for the baby. The younger the baby, the finer the pieces have to be. You can rip up the greens or use a pair of scissors to cut fine slivers.
Be sure that everything is chopped finely for very young, small goslings or ducklings. If they are larger, they can rip up greens on their own.

Duck vitamins may be dotted on the greens if you can get them. Vionate is one brand.

If you’re near a pond, duckweed can be skimmed from the surface of water along with microscopic plant life that ducks like. It’s a natural food.

Add the duckweed to the mixture, along with some of the water from the pond, and the ducks and geese will take over from there, as you can see below. [photo] The seagull is watching this gosling “pig-out.”

These sites give reasons for all about what to do for orphan baby birds -
http://www.crowsystems.com/rehab/babybird.html – this is an brilliant article – be sure to read down the entire page!
http://www.stokesbirdsathome.com/q&a/archive/qa108.html
http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-happened-when-nestling-fell-out.html
http://www.projectwildlife.org/find-babysongbirds.htm
And this Yahoo Best Answer too -
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=1006050608886

I’ve got a lot of links to wildlife carers from a lot of countries on my site, at
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/links under “Wildlife Help” – just click on them all, click on your country and state, have a browse, ‘phone them and question their advice.

Very very best of luck.