Like these North American Wood Ducks, many waterfowl species have completed their summer molt cycle and can now be seen in fresh, colorful breeding plumage. Did you know that the North American Wood Duck once came very close to extinction? By the late 1800s, habitat destruction and unregulated hunting took such a toll on eastern Wood Duck populations that ornithologists believed there was little hope of recovery. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 provided a last-minute safe haven for Wood Du