Are very colourful indeed, and regarded as our most handsome/pretty of all North American wild fowl. They are slightly smaller than mallards, being roughly three quarters of a mallard's size. They are larger than teal though, and are eagerly sought after by hunters of the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways. But hunters in any flyway may get a 'crack' at these fine feathered friends, as a few seem to 'stray' into both the Central & pacific flyways occasionally. 

These birds nest in trees (mostly hollow), so they aren't too populous out west where 'denning/nesting' sites aren't readily available. 

These birds are very mild flavoured, and will go to grain fields to feed, but seem to overall, prefer the wild harvest of acorns, berries and the like found around wetlands/river sheds. 

These birds aren't necessarily a 'marsh' bird, and will propagate in river/stream/pond watersheds where hollow trees seem to be more prevalent. 

Back in the late 40's and early 50's, because of loss of habitat - primarily the loss of hollow trees, the wood duck population crashed sadly. 

The good news is that many conservation minded people and groups erected 'wood duck' nesting boxes by the thousands over this bird's range. This was all the woodie needed, and today this bird is not only able to be hunted, due to stable populations, but is quite populous as well. But we must keep up this good work of erecting nesting boxes for the wood duck - more and more hollow trees are disappearing each year. 

 These birds do decoy well, especially to decoys of their own species. They also make a creaking squawk as a greeting or alarm cry, so calling is possible. One not good at calling would be wiser not to call at all, until proficient at calling these fine fowl! 

Woodies are regarded as an early migrator, and seem to leave quite early in the season, especially if 'pressured' by hunters. They don't leave quite as early as in autumn as teal though. 

Woodies can be humanely harvested with 20 Ga. shotguns, especially when loaded with size five or six bismuth, and offer fast/quick, and often difficult shooting opportunities. If using 12 Ga, use six shot or five's. Don't sky-bust - let-em right in before shooting - these pristine flavoured denizens deserve to be harvested humanely with good quick clean kills.