deke12ga

I've never seen a drake woodie in eclispe so I can't say for sure but it might could have been a drake and a hen just the drake was eclisped...? I have seen a very young drake that looked exactlylike a hen. (I watched a hen raise a brood at my parents house at the lake.)The only way I could tell it was a drake was by the white lines covering his face but I could only see those with binoculars...
Well its probably too late for ducks to be eclipsed now a drake should start having some green on his head at least... I dont know heck I'm no biologist just a hunter.

Chris_H

Well I'm assuming that he saw those ducks recently, and all of the woodies around here are almost in full winter plumage.

deke12ga

Probably so... But his ID doesnt say where he is but I'd guess it was two hens too...

Chris_H

Ah who knows. In the eclipse plumage, a drake doesn't have white rings around the eyes... Im pretty sure anyway... thats just why I thought they were both hens. That is if both ducks had white rings around the eyes.

CAelknuts

Nobody would mistake a woodie drake for a hen. Other than size and body shape, they don't look alike at all if you can see the coloring. We shoot a lot of woodies on my club in California, and that green head, speckled golden chest and colorful body can't be mistaken for anything else. One tip on ID'ing woodies on the wing, is they look almost like a wigeon, but havea squared tail rathen than pointed tail. Another is that they often fly like teal, but are the size of wigeon.

Can't wait for our opener, October 18th. Going up to put the boat in the water, finish dressing the blindsand set out decoys this Saturday.

WildlifePhoto

If you log on to this link www.trmichels.com/NatureToursNABirdsList.htm, and scroll down past the link-titles, and wait for all the photos to load, - you'll find photos of all of the drakes (males) of the duck species of North America. the females are usually all brown.

Chris_H

It is very easy to mistake woodie drakes from hens in the eclipse plumage in flight. Up close is a different story. It is almost impossible to mistake a woodie hen from drake in the breeding plumage however... either that or you just don't know your waterfowl.

Wood ducks are some of the easiest to identify where I'm from... their flight is swift and direct, and their various squeals are unmistakable. If you aren't in the flight path of where they are going, it is very hard to get them to change their direction.

I can't wait for my season opener either! November 24. Such a long way away.

Maveric777

Well I dont know if yall have gadwalls in that area, but I personaly made a big goof in regards to them. I was sitting in a blind with my brother years ago and where covered up with close to 20 ducks atany giventime. I thought they all where mallard hens. We already shot our limit of what we thought where mallard hens....lol. Looking back now I remember thinking "Where in the hell are the drakes?".....

Upon getting back to camp I then realized my brother and I seen over a hundred gadwalls that day and should of been cleaning 12 ducks instead of 4.

On another note. I don't remember seeing a lone wood duck hen until the season is good and under way (the drake been killed already). They tend to stick close to their mates. I seem to always see them flying in pares and the drake is definitely unmistakable.

CAelknuts

Chris, I'll agree that perhaps some people have trouble distinguishing drakes from hens early, but I can't recall ever having that problem. And we shoot a lot of wood ducks every year. Some days, my son and I will shoot two limits of nothing but woodies, which is 14 ducks out here. I was up at my club a few days ago, saw tons of woodies and could tell drakes from hens. Now, during that first 15-20 minutes before sunup at this time of year, I'll agree with you that they can be tough to tell apart then.

wdog1

ill have to disagree you will see them in rivers and small lakes also