East nest – 4 eggs – July ducklings

I candled the eggs in the East nest this evening and good news: the four layed by the incubating duck are developing. The fifth one was in the nest more than a week before the incubating duck started laying, probably provided by another duck. It was not developed at all so I removed it.

This picture was taken today. There’s a very bright light beneath the eggs, shining up through holes that the eggs are sitting in. Both of these have developing ducklings as indicated by the distinct dark areas. (An undeveloped egg is bright with no dark areas.)

It’s hard to know when incubation started sometimes. For the East nest my best guess is that we’ll see 4 ducklings sometime between July 7th and 14th. As that approaches I will try to check the eggs each day because when they are slightly cracked (pipped) that means hatching will occur within 24 to 48 hours. I’ll let you know, of course.

A hooded merganser checked out the South nest a couple of times last week and I got a picture of her. She hasn’t been around this week. The West and South nests seem to be done for the year.

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