Wood Ducks and Mandarins:
Can You Tell the Difference?

The Wood duck (Aix sponsa) and the Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) are the only two species in the genus Aix. This is an oddity due to the small number of duck species comprising the genus. Geographically they are representative of areas of the world very far apart. Where the Wood duck enjoys the whole of the United States, the Mandarin is found in Eastern Asia. Even though the males of the two species representing arguably the most beautiful ducks in the world are strikingly different, the females are like peas in a pod to the untrained eye and the ducklings have only slight differences. The intent of this piece is to photographically present the various ages and genders of the two species.

It All Starts Here In This Case With A Wood Duck

The nesting habits of the two species seem to be the same. In this case the boxes provided are of the traditional Wood duck size and shape. Since the birds at Chenoa are pinioned a ramp is provided for entry to the hole in the box. The inside of the box has a piece of 1/2 by 1 welded wire mounted below the hole to aid the female duck in exiting the box. There were 26 eggs in this nest when they were removed to be placed in the incubator and 22 of them hatched.

Ducklings: Mandarin (Above) and Wood Duck (Below) Photograph by Allison Morgan, Editor, Tennessee Cooperator, June, 2006

Almost as if choreographed these two ducklings representing the two species emerged at just the right time to make a camera documentation of their arrival. Note the lighter/whiter head and neck markings of the Wood duck in the lower part of the photograph when compared to the darker/golder head and neck markings of the Mandarin.

Mandarin Female Eye Appears To Sit On A Line

Wood Duck Female Eye Appears To Sit In The Line

Mandarin Male In Full Plumage

Wood Duck Males In Full Plumage

This file was placed in service 02/14/2008.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

Last Modified Saturday, 26-Apr-2008 13:08:28 CDT