This year we have four wood duck nest boxes at Hogsback Acre and fortunately, lots of ducks! Here is a summary from woodie world!
Box #1: The Creek
The creek box has been in place since the spring of 2019. It was used successfully by woodies in both 2020 and 2021. This year, the box received early attention from the first returning pair of woodies on March 22. A single egg was laid on April 1st. However, the nest was abandoned on April 2nd after an eastern screech owl began roosting in the box. The owl appears to have moved on to occupy other roosts and the box now receives occasional visits from wood duck hens. But no attempts at nesting.
Box #2: The Swamp
This box was constructed and installed in a vernal pond on March 18th where it received significant nesting competition. Two eggs were found in the nest on April 2nd and 19 eggs were found on April 11th. Since each hen can only lay one egg per day, this indicates that several different hens contributed to the egg production. This is a common wood duck practice. An additional two eggs were found outside the nest in the shallow water of the vernal pond on April 12th.
A hen began incubating a total of 21 eggs on April 16th. However, on April 25th, the nest appeared to be abandoned. No hen was at the nest and the eggs felt cold to the touch. At least one egg appeared to have been damaged by a woodpecker.
Box #3: North Box
This new box was installed on April 9th, as an alternative to the creek box after the screech owl incident. On April 16th, I unexpectedly flushed a wood duck hen from this box and subsequently installed the nest box camera on April 17th, just in time to capture video of the hen and a red-bellied woodpecker destroy the eggs on April 17-18th. The wood duck hen abandoned the nest box and it is currently unoccupied.
Box #4: South Box
This box was installed along Sycamore Creek during the spring of 2021 but was not used that season. Instead, it appears to have been used as a day roost and food cache for a screech owl. It's likely that the location of the box, directly above a fast moving area of the creek, was deemed unsuitable for the woodies. On jump day, the stream current would likely sweep the ducklings downstream and into danger.
Given its lack of use in the previous season and its questionable location, this box was moved onto higher ground in early April. The first two eggs were found on April 20th and I was able to capture some video footage of two hens sharing the nest. As of April 25th, there were 9 eggs in the nest and at least one hen returning to sit on the nest several times each day.
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