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I haven’t seen ducklings yet – lots of fluffy down and momma duck in the way – but both the East and West mother ducks are eating eggshells (good nutrition for them), and moms and babies are talking to each other so hatching is happening. I’d hoped the two nests would do this one day apart.

So when will they jump?

It will be either tomorrow or Thursday morning, but which one? When they hatch in the evening or overnight it’s easier to predict, but since they are hatching during the day it’s harder to know. My guess is Thursday because tomorrow morning it will be less than 20 hours out of the egg for most of the ducklings. But the outside cameras will be live tomorrow in case they go then.

To watch the cameras go to birdsgv.com, scroll down a bit, then use the View Live Cameras button.

West nest:

When I checked yesterday evening about half of the eggs in the West nest were pipped; that is, slightly broken by the duckling inside. This occurs 24 to 48 hours prior to hatching. Today the mother duck is also “talking” to the eggs: as she turns them she makes a soft pulsing call – the same one she uses to call the ducklings when it’s time to jump out of the nest box. She’s responding to the peeping sounds the ducklings make while still inside the eggs (too quiet for the camera to pick up).

My predictions are historically inaccurate but that has never stopped me before … and also notice the “If” here: If they hatch tonight or tomorrow early then they will jump Wednesday morning; otherwise Thursday.

East nest:

When I checked yesterday evening none of the eggs were pipped yet. This is good regarding setting up cameras for outside views. I was concerned that perhaps both nests would leave on the same day but I now think they’ll be a day apart (but see above regarding predictions). I’ll check again today if I can catch the duck away from the nest.

South nest:

Ducks continue to visit and we still see male-female pairs in the creek so it’s still possible this nest box will be used, but no eggs are in there yet. Also we’ve sometimes had two rounds of ducklings in one of the nest boxes.

Outside camera setup:

I’m going to test outside cameras today including their presence on the birdsgv.com camera web page. If you happen to be looking just then you’ll see an additional camera appear temporarily but then it will go away again until Jump Day morning.

I have activated the nest box cameras for the East and West nests. The South nest has been visited briefly but contains no eggs and I don’t think it will be used this year. To watch the cameras:

• Go to birdsgv.com, scroll down a bit, and use the “View Live Cameras” button.

As described in my previous post on April 21st, both nest boxes started incubation on the same day and ducklings are due to hatch sometime next week. (You can view all previous posts via the Blog button at the birdsgv.com web site.) I’ll try to catch the ducks away from each nest each day so I can open the nest box and check the eggs. If so, I’ll be able to let you know a day or two in advance when they will hatch because the ducklings “pip” (slightly break) the eggshells 24 to 48 hours before hatching. Another sign you can watch for is when the mother duck becomes more active in turning the eggs and also “talks to them” using a soft pulsing call. She is responding to sounds made by the ducklings: they start peeping while still in the eggs. The eggs start out with a small amount of air inside and after the duckling pips the shell that lets in more air. The duckling’s peeps are too quiet for the camera’s microphones to pick up.

When I checked a few days ago the East nest had 16 eggs and the West nest had 17. Both of them started with 12 so other ducks have been adding eggs. This can occur while the incubating duck is out getting food and also sometimes when another duck invades the nest box. For information about this behavior (it’s called “dumping”) see the “Ducks Info” button on the birdsgv.com page. The site also has short videos of ducks peacefully coexisting and of fighting where the resident duck is aggressively trying to repel an invader: see the “Links to the Videos” button and scroll down for brief descriptions of each video.

First above: an incubating duck is trying to repel an invader that wants to leave an egg. Second: Two ducks resting peacefully in the same nest box.

Both nests have 12 wood duck eggs and both the East and the West ducks started incubation on the same day: Sunday the 19th of April. I hope they hatch a day or two apart; otherwise we could have a double Jump Day about a month from now. That has happened once before and I do have enough cameras to cover both 2 inside views and 2 outside views, but it’s kind of hectic to watch four of them. We’ll see how it goes.

Incubation time for wood ducks is 28 to 32 days so hatching will likely occur between May 17th and May 21st. As most of you know, the ducklings spend just one night in the nest box and jump out the day after hatching.

It appears the hooded mergansers will nest elsewhere this year and also the South nest is currently unused. I’m not going to start streaming the cameras until a couple of weeks from now. Until then you rarely might see an empty nest box but usually you would see a resting duck that looks a lot like the photos below.

There are now 9 eggs in the East nest and 11 in the West. The start of incubation will be very soon, but not quite today. When I checked the nests at mid-afternoon both ducks had been away for a while and the eggs were very cool in both nests (it got down to near freezing last night) so neither duck had been warming her eggs. But there’s lots of down in the nests and the West nest duck came back in the late afternoon: a couple of hours early vs. recent days when she has rested in the nest overnight. Both ducks are in the nest boxes right now, at 11 PM.

When I checked the East nest a couple of days ago I happened to notice that one egg had a very tiny hole in the shell, the size of a pinhead. The inner membrane was intact so I left it in the nest, even though I guessed it had little or no chance to develop. Today the recordings showed something new that I’ve not seen before: the duck removed it. First, the recording showed the duck pecking the egg and enlarging the hole. When the hole was big enough she was able to use it to grab the egg in her bill and she then carried it out of the nest box.