While egg-laying began this week, the wood ducks faced a number of challenges. On April 1st, a group of aggressive mallards harassed the woodies and would not leave the area near the nest box. Ultimately a male woody chased them off and a female was able to lay her first egg.
Wood duck females lay one egg per day in the morning. So on April 2nd, I anticipated capturing the second egg being laid on the nest box camera. Instead, I discovered an eastern screech owl had taken up residence in the box just before dawn. The owl remained in the box for the entire day, preventing the female woody from entering the box. By late morning, the entire group of seven woodies gave up on the nest box and began seeking an alternate nesting location in the wooded hillside.
It's likely that the owl was a male who uses the nest box as an occasional day roost. It did not appear to be nesting and it did not return to the box on April 3rd. Earlier this spring, when cleaning out the nest box and installing the camera, I found a fresh half-eaten mouse inside the box. This was likely a meal for the owl.
Despite the drama at the nest box on the creek, I did find two woody eggs in a new box that I set up in a nearby vernal pond (aka "The Swamp").
And to cap off an exciting week of wildlife at Hogsback Acre, we were visited by eleven wild turkeys on March 31st. This group included a male and ten females. This is only the second sighting of turkeys since we moved to Hogsback Acre in 2018. What a display!
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