Ducklings 3 Times in May
Incubation is now active in all three nest boxes: two wood ducks and, for the very first time here, a hooded merganser!
The merganser hen is staying overnight in the south nest for the first time tonight. I’m really glad she has taken over the egg warming duty because for the past three nights I have been bringing the eggs into a cool room in the house. I’ve gone to get them in late evening when the nest is empty and there is no chance that she’s coming back for the night, and then I have gotten up (way too) early to get them back into the nest box when it’s just starting to get light in the east, well before she might possibly return to lay another egg.
I did that because Internet sources said duck eggs are okay down to about 28 degrees but will freeze below that temperature and if they do freeze, they die. We’ve had cold temperatures these past few nights; it’s gotten down to 16. After working to get a camera into that nest box — burying new low voltage wire through the yard and laying it across the creek, making a new roof with a camera mount, and installing a new power control and camera — and especially because a hooded merganser has chosen it, I really hoped to see a bunch of them (not just one or a few) hatch and jump and swim away in a month.
Incubation time for both species is identical at 28 to 32 days. Based on the first date the hens were in the nest box overnight:
| Nest | West | East | South |
| Kind | Wood Duck | Wood Duck | Hooded Merganser |
| Eggs | note #1 | note #2 | note #3 |
| Started | April 1 | April 13 | April 16 |
| Hatch +/- 3 | May 1 | May 13 | May 16 |
note #1 – There were 10 the last time I checked several days ago.
note #2 – The east nest duck started incubating 10 eggs on Monday but since then at least 2 eggs have been added by other hens. The extras are not likely to hatch with the others.
note #3 – I put 9 eggs back into the nest box this morning, but I’m guessing she added another today when she was in the nest from 10 until 2. She then left for a few hours, then came back to stay overnight. (We don’t watch continually: the cameras provide activity records that are easy to check.)
Feather Fluff
Mergansers!
A Hooded Merganser is intending to raise ducklings in the South nest box! In the past mergansers have often dumped eggs in a wood duck nest here (see: “dumping”) but that’s been just one or a few mixed in with many eggs from the wood ducks. But the South nest box has only merganser eggs in it, there now are 5 or 6 of them, and she’s spending a lot of time in there so I think she is claiming it as her own. There were 5 eggs this morning when I counted, but she was inside from about 2:30 until 5:00 this afternoon so I’m sure she added another one. This is exciting for us; we’ve never before watched a merganser raise a family here.
A wood duck continues to visit the East nest box each day and it now contains 6 eggs – top photo. Wood duck and hooded merganser eggs are similar but it is fairly easy to tell them apart if you see them side-by-side. Wood duck eggs are smaller, more oval, and have a tan or olive tint. The five hooded merganser eggs in the South nest box – bottom photo – are larger, rounder, and whiter (the two on the left look rosy because of light reflecting off the wood panel).
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During the hours while the hooded merganser hen was in the nest box, laying an egg and resting, the male waited in the creek just below. Occasionally he went up or downstream a little ways, but he was always nearby. Viewed from directly above via the indirect light within the nest box, her subtle brown colors aren’t very visible.
Finally she covered the eggs with wood shavings, poked her head out to look around and flew down to the creek, landing with a big splash.
Camera #3 and Mergansers
South nest camera – New!
Our neighbor across the creek has kindly allowed me to add a camera to his nest box. It is on the south side of the creek so I am calling it the South nest.
Both this year and last year we have watched a Hooded Merganser hen show an interest in the South nest box. She never stayed. But this past week we have seen the merganser couple about every other day. As usual for mergansers or wood ducks, the male waits outside when the female is in the nest so that’s a good clue that we should check the camera. Now, we can do that.
As of today there are 4 hooded merganser eggs in the South nest!
On the main page there’s a new button that takes you to the live view from the new South nest camera (and also links to the other two nest box cameras of course). For now, you’ll be lucky to see anything except wood shavings in the East and South nests: the ducks do visit for a while each day, sometimes for just a few minutes or sometimes more than an hour, but during most of the day the nest box is empty. That will continue until finally one duck decides it’s time to start incubating.
East and West nest update
A Wood Duck has been visiting the East nest nearly every day and has now provided 4 eggs. We hope she keeps on doing that. The West nest continues as it has been, with the resident hen diligently incubating 10 eggs that are due to hatch sometime around the end of this month. If you check the West nest camera you’ll usually see her there. She has been leaving for only about a half hour twice per day.
Lots of ducks
The wood ducks are finally here in larger numbers today. There were 9 this morning: 1 in the west nest and 4 pairs in the yard. They were house hunting …
… but so far we haven’t seen any wood ducks inside the west nest except the hen who clearly has claimed this place as her own.
The west nest duck has visited nearly every day, staying for longer and longer each day. She had nine eggs early this afternoon and I think today she has started to incubate! She’s been plucking down for a couple of days, was on the nest most of the day today, the eggs were warm when I checked them, and she is there right now (7:30pm) as it’s getting dark. If she stays, this would be the first day of incubation and jump day would be approximately April 28th.
Both nests were occupied for a little while on the morning of March 30th, as shown by this screen shot of a phone app image. As of today there is one egg in the east nest (top) and nine (maybe 10?) are in the west: the bottom picture is the hen who has claimed the west nest box.
Other visitors:
A pair of hooded mergansers has been in the creek a couple of times with the male doing his mating display and then both doing what comes after that too. The female hooded merganser was in the west nest a few days ago (while it was empty) but she only stayed for a few minutes and did not leave an egg.
We also saw a very odd duck in the creek: furry instead of feathered, with a long rat-like tail, and swimming down in the water instead of floating on top:
It’s a muskrat – look at how the water beads up on his fur. (3 images)
Finally, here is a link to an animated GIF (40MB) made from a series of 20 images taken on March 28th. It shows a duck flying from the roof of the east nest down into the doorway. If you’ve wondered how they can possibly transition from flying with wings spread to diving into that small opening, have a look.
