#0732 · 🐦 birds

Wood Duck

🇳🇱 Carolina-eend ·Aix sponsa

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in the Netherlands (introduced)

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The wood duck or Carolina duck ( Aix sponsa ) is a species of perching duck found in North America. The drake wood duck is one of the most colorful North American waterfowl.

base stats

NL sightings 83iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 126,535iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 83 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
126,535 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
Not originally Dutch: it was introduced to the Netherlands.

fact sheet

English: Wood Duck
Nederlands: Carolina-eend
scientific name: Aix sponsa
class: Aves
order: Anseriformes
family: Anatidae
IUCN Red List: LC · least concern
in NL: introduced
sightings in NL: 83
sightings in Europe: 1,692
sightings worldwide: 126,535
GBIF records in NL: 5,457
weight: —
length: —
lifespan: —
named: 1758

IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.

relatives· Anatidae

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 7107, Wikidata Q322159, GBIF 2498387, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.