"Wood Duck - A visitor to New Orleans, Louisiana"

Also known as Carolina or "wood" Duck or Aix sponsa, these perching duck belongs to the Asian genus of the Mandarin Duck and the anatidae family (not to be confused with swans nor geese). The word "duck" has old Germanic roots in "tauchen" for "to dive". In Latin the term is "anas" and in Lithuanian "antis", probably from Sanskrit "ati" for "water bird". Their habitat is wooded swamps, marshes, and shallow lakes. Their baby ducks, a day after they hatch, jump from fairly high nests to the ground and swim to find their own food. These ducks are quite common in East Texas and West Louisiana where they winter. Their beauty  is frequently recorded in English decorative art. Human population explosion, greed, penchant for killing (hunting), and general lack of restraint has led to a sharp decline in their number and range. Perhaps, because ducks in general engender in humans a sense of good humor may be their salvation.