The Wood Duck at Santa Barbara, California
The Wood Duck at Santa Barbara, California
On February 18, 1912, I was so fortunate as to come upon a pair of the beautiful Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) in a rather heavily wooded section of Mission Creek, a small stream running along the outskirts of the town of Santa Barbara. I was lucky enough to see them swimming in the stream some distance below me and, by careful stalking, was able to crawl within twenty feet of them, thus enabling me to watch them for half an hour without awakening a suspicion on their part. A week later, 01 February 25, I once more found them close to the original location, seemingly very much at home, as the male swam and paraded himself to his, and my, hart’s content, although his mate seemed too busy eating to pay him much attention.
I left Santa Barbara for the north on February 27, and consequently was unable to finish the study, but I feel that there was a very strong possibility of their remaining to nest. There was a large flow of water in the stream, and a number of most satisfactorv hollow limbs in the immediate vicinity; thus it would have heen impossible to find more suitable conditions.
