Published: February 7, 2007
Rarely-seen Carolina Wood Duck spotted at Burnham-On-Sea park

A vibrantly coloured duck which is rarely seen in the UK has been turning heads at Apex Wildlife Park in Burnham-On-Sea this week.

The Carolina Wood Duck has been attracting the attention of bird watchers in recent days after being spotted in one of the park's lakes.

Its breeding habitats are usually the wooded swamps, shallow lakes and marshes of North America and Western Mexico.

They are year-round residents of the southern US states, although the northern populations do migrate south for the winter when they are seen near the Atlantic coast.

Bird watchers here in Burnham believe this one may have got caught up in recent bad weather or escaped from a local collection.

Local bird watcher Andy Slade said: "The bird is unringed and arrived after the recent storms."

"It is almost certainly a escaped bird from a collection. There is always a slim chance of it being wild but it's behaviour does not support this."

The population of the Carolina Wood Duck was in serious decline at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of over-hunting and loss of suitable nesting sites. However, changes in US game laws and the construction of nesting boxes in suitable habitats resulted in the species' return to sustainable numbers.