Zippy the family wood duck 

Rip

love being out there listening to em wake up and fly across the tree line

What!? A silver tongue!? That's crazy.

Look up the mandarin duck, they’re even fancier.

They’re very magnificent, so are male Goldeneyes and Common Eiders. I’ve seen Wood ducks here in Northern Virginia, I love watching them and hearing their calls. I’ve never seen any Goldeneyes or Eiders but I dream to see them.

Hi mom!

jim28fl I'm sorry to hear that. You guys gave him a great life. Thank you for sharing him with us :)

jim28fl His diet was very wrong. You seemed to know that he had nutritional problems, did you ever correct his diet? They eat mostly grubs and plants, not grains.

farrelli7777 I'm not sure it was clear but he was a free bird who slept on moved onto my porch and i offered him various bird seeds n such corn acorns as they were available but he never seemed to really want a specific food.. he ate bugs from the porch and Dabbled a bit in the lake, but always seemed to be content on the porch there at the RV. He slept in a box every night there by the window went for walks with us. regularly flew into the large pine tree above the RV. craziest duck. just wanted to be party of the family i guess.

farrelli7777 no ,they eat a lot of grains rice corn soy beans

fullstrutn No, they definitely don't. I'm involved in rescue and rehab of primarily waterfowl and get my info from Tufts Wildlife Clinic, basically the Harvard Medical School of vet schools, and wood ducks mostly eat water based greens with grains, seeds, and bugs making up the rest. They eat a higher proportion of protein rich bugs than most other waterfowl. This is especially true when they are very young. At that point they have a very high protein requirement. Rice, especially white rice, is bad for most animals, including wood ducks. Beans, lentils, and soy, if uncooked tend to also be very bad for animals because they contain Antinutrients which block the absorption of needed nutrients. Peas are one of the few exceptions that they can eat uncooked. Not paying close attention to the proper diet of an animal can cause all manner of issues, including death. For example, I work a lot with squirrels, and the majority of the problems we see with squirrels coming in from homes where they were kept as pets are where they were fed a diet of nuts. Believe it or not, nuts should only form a small portion of a sq's diet, and many nuts (like peanuts - which actually aren't nuts) are terrible for them because they're incredibly high in phosphorous, which blocks calcium absorption, and sqs have a very high calcium requirement. With depleted calcium levels, they become fragile, tend to have seizures, become paralyzed, and die. Diet is always super important for any species.

Your face is a kazoo with feathers.

ROFL!!! But a very adorable feathered kazoo!

@@tudorhistoryguy your face is uglyy

@@madelynrae1456 thanks it's actually my mom you dipshit

@@tudorhistoryguy ew tell her to brush her teeth they yellow af

I think someone deliberately cut off his webs. I had a mallard duck come into my rescue with no webs and her bill and tongue cut off. She belonged to a 14 year old that got her for Easter. He tortured her.

I take Japanese beetles off the plants in the garden. I have one question you may know the answer to. Like the situation with this duck where he is missing feathers around his beak, mine is missing feathers around his eyes just a little, not a lot. Is the beetles? I should probably find out what goat weed looks like and where to get it, I do have grapes, plenty, and acorn season is way out of reach. I might have peanuts. I did feed him bread once, but I do not want to do that too much, since it could cause health problems. Backstory: on the river with hurt wing, thats where I found Rockstar. He is very small, like the pullet version of a chicken or a cockerel. Ill be sure to try the grapes though. Also, I put him with two chickens that didn't fit in with the others. They seem to be getting along slowly, such as sleeping together and eating together. I wanted to give him company. Also, one more thing, walks and swimming does happen a lot outside of his coop. Not much of a swimmer though.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with your duck. This all sort of happened naturally and I think sharing that helps other folks make decisions, many ducks are separated at a young age and they make fair family pets or are worth rescuing. A wood duck would be very rare of course. It was such a great experience I had to share with the world. best of luck with your wood duck as zippy lives on in him I'm sure. Make some videos. I actually took zippy on the bass boat once and he flew along side the boat as we cruised. That video would have been the best on you tube, but we didn't think to record it. He literally flew along with the boat in the lake for ten minutes before he landed back at the porch. Right beside our faces as the boat went along at 30 MPH. Amazing experience alot like the Canada goose videos of folks in ultralights. Zippy was always free to leave when he wanted which made it that much more magical. We always came home to see if zippy had moved on and in the end, it was us who moved him on to another family to share. He was very loyal behaving as well.

How is Your zippy doing? Got any good stories? My best story is when we would go for boat rides on the lake there and zippy would fly out to catch up with us and fly along the boat and land on the deck in motion. That would have been a awesome video had i though to do that back then. Still talk about my zippy often.

The cats of the duck world. Always fighting with each other. They are beautiful for sure, I love them as well.

If you get one they will most likely fly away if you don’t confine them. That’s the only sad part about having one as a pet. I really want one as a pet but I’d hate to confine it they are wild animals. I’d get something like a mallard or a domestic breed like a khaki Campbell or a call duck if you don’t want it to fly away.

Have you seen the harlequin duck?

King Eiders are also quite beautiful.

+FaZeBooce Gaming Bufflehead drakes get pretty cool looking come winter time. Make for great diver hunting as well!

Harryson Xiong what about harlequin ducks.

CeriseArt no way, not even close

+Deanna Crownover I'm sure he or she will make a great addition to the family. Zippy was a great flyer and it was amazing to watch him fly freely then come back to hang out with us. I was not his captor but his friend. something hard to believe an animal can be sometimes. He was free to leave when ever he wanted. We gave him the freedom to do as he pleased. it was amazing he choose to hang around. No one believed he acted as he did till they saw him, pet him, walked with him. Just amazing and so beautiful at the same time. I wish I had a way/ the interest to video him back then as i do now. Something i'll never have a chance to do again i don't think. So abnormal. Good luck to you and your new friend.

+jim28fl I know the hurt of losing a wild friend. I've rehabbed hundreds of animals and one squirrel (Twirly) and this little guy imprinted. They were leaving the nest for the first time when the owls attacked...they'd been waiting in the cypress head. We last saw our little girl squirrel on thanksgiving day, last year. she came in and stole two pieces of marzipan and went to her outdoor drey (she'd made an indoor drey in a parrot cage on the back porch and had seven litters in five years in that cage and all her babies still live here. third generation now.) and that was the last time we saw her. I'm interested how long this guy will stick around...longer if it's a female I'd imagine. I'll keep you posted!

Deanna Crownover you never kept us posted it’s been 3 years damnit we need answers.

Get a card board box and cut a hole on one end and some peep holes on the others so the duck can roost in it at night. i used to push mine up to the window for awhile; to be sure no cats or anything got in after him, but after a while i stopped working about it. Depends whats in your area that could prey on the duck while its roosted. Plenty of advise in here about food and id start taking it with you every where possible to build up a bond. Try not to be afraid it will run off. Pretty quick they learn your routine. Mine would always try n follow me to the truck when I left to work if none else was home. that was sorta tricky. i took him to work many times and others left him on the porch. some times he wool be gone for a day or two. but he was always around when we sat out side for a bit he would hear us and fly back to the porch. Keep us posted.

jim28fl right on, thanks for the advice. It’s been loving the mallard duckling I bought to keep it company. I’ll have to post the videos of them when I can.

You have no clue what you are talking abou there not webed because they roost in trees

@@brianconroy7514 chill

@@brianconroy7514 No actually YOU have no clue. They do nest in trees, but the feet are normally webbed like any other duck. This duck's webbing has been altered. Go look at photos/video of other wood duck and you will see exactly what the guy is talking about.

@@direfranchement bla bla bla bla bla YOU NEED TO GROW UP !

@CATC CATim the sack of shit you might want to ask your parents how to spell shit before you type it lol and wild wood ducks have webbing on there feet too !

He doesn't look tamed...

You should see my wood duck. 100% has no clue he’s a duck.

@@Mikey-ym6ok he is. I have wood ducks and i can not get closer than 3 meters from them.

He would fly on the lake while i drove the boat and land on the deck when i stopped to fish totally part of the family. thats one video I really wish I had. Talk about zippy all the time still what a great opportunity to enjoy a wood duck.

+Samantha Epstein No he was 100% wild and just stayed at the house for what ever reason.. he would wonder in under the porch at his leisure. He was free to come n go. we kept a box for him to stay in at night which he seemed to like just fine.

When we got the house done i sent him to a neighbors farm pond and thats where he is last i talked to the frame owner. he has gotten a bit more wild which is good. but still comes to people when he sees them.

jim28fl He should have meal worms, that would give him the protein he needs.

Not normal

Universal Steele wood ducks are tree ducks they don’t have webing because they are always in trees and stuff not big swimmers

@@thechase.outdoors no that's wrong. I have wood ducks and they have webs and swim perfectly like any other duck.

Fred eric that probably has a different breed in him

Judah Begin when people raise farm ducks and release them to be killed they cut the webs so when someone kills it they know if they got a farm duck or a wild. Around my way we get mostly mallards. Your limit is five wild ones a day and there’s no limit on farm ducks

Surreal.

@@Poopoopoop100 that's stupid. Just put them a ring. How can he swim then ?