State Birds
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Mississippi Symbols
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Mississippi State Waterfowl
Wood Duck
(Aix sponsa)
Adopted in 1944.
The Wood Duck, Aix sponsa, was designated the State Waterfowl of Mississippi, Chapter 551, General Laws of Mississippi of 1974. Mississippi boasts more than a million acres of prime game habitat in 36 state wildlife management areas and National Wildlife Refuges open for public hunting, including marshy waterfowl havens. Adult birds are 17-20" long and tend to inhabit fresh water ponds, lakes, wooded bottomlands, streams, and other wetlands.
MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972
As Amended
SEC. 3-3-25. State waterfowl.
The wood duck (Aix sponsa) is hereby designated the state waterfowl of
Mississippi.
SOURCES: Laws, 1974, ch. 551, Sec. 5, eff from and after passage (approved
April 12, 1974).
Physical Description
Wood ducks are small to medium sized birds. Both male and female adults
have a crest on their head, a rectangular shaped tail, white bellies and
white lines on the back of the wings. Males are 48 to 54 cm long, while
females are 47 to 51 cm long. Their wingspans are 70 to 73 cm long and they
weigh between 500 and 700 g. The sexes are dimorphic. The males' heads are
iridescent green, blue and purple and have two white lines that are parallel
and run from the base of the bill and behind the eye to the back of the
head. Male wood ducks also have red eyes, red at the base of the bill,
rust-colored chests, bronze sides and black backs and tails. The females are
brownish to gray and have white eye rings, white throats and gray chests.
Juvenile wood ducks resemble adult females. Wood ducks are sometimes
mistaken for American widgeons (Anas americana) when flying because the
white lines that wood ducks have at the back of their wings are not visible.
Also female wood ducks are mistaken for female Mandarin ducks (Aix
galericulata). The difference lies in the Mandarin duck's lighter gray head
and less distinctive eye patch.
Habitat
Wood ducks occupy a wide variety of habitats including
woodland areas along lakes, rivers, creeks, beaver and farm
ponds and various other freshwater vegetated wetland areas.
Because wood ducks are cavity nesters, the availability of
nesting sites within one mile of water is necessary. Winter
habitats are the same as those used during breeding.
Lifespan
The average lifespan of
A. sponsa
is three or four years. The maximum recorded lifespan in the
wild is roughly 15 years. Within the first two weeks after
hatching 86 to 90% of the chicks die. One cause of mortality
is predation. Hunting also accounts for some mortality,
however, hunting pressures are not enough to endanger the
species.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
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| Kingdom |
Animalia -- animals |
| Phylum |
Chordata -- chordates |
| Subphylum |
Vertebrata -- vertebrates |
| Class |
Aves -- birds |
| Order |
Anseriformes |
| Family |
Anatidae |
| Genus |
Aix |
| Species |
Aix sponsa |
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Official State Birds
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Bird:
a. Any of the class Aves of warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings.
b. Such an animal hunted as game.
c. Such an animal, especially a chicken or turkey, used as food State Bird:
a. Bird selected (as by the legislature) as an emblem of a state of the United States. NOTE: Many states have more than one official bird, or have designate state birds more specifically. |
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