Nest Boxes Ready, Ducks Needed

Ready for 2024! I set up all three of the wood duck houses today but so far only Mallards are in the area; we haven’t seen (or heard – usually I hear them first) any wood ducks or hooded mergansers yet. I’ll let you know when they arrive.

Cameras:

I’ll have cameras in the nest boxes again this season, of course, but they won’t be live for you for quite a few weeks. Why? During the first couple of weeks after they arrive a duck will be in the nest box for only a few minutes each day. They kick wood shavings around, trying sitting in various positions, then they leave. So your chance of seeing anything other than wood shavings by watching a live view is really small. (I see what they’re doing by checking the camera’s motion-triggered recordings.) Even after laying begins the odds go up only a bit: a duck will be in the nest box for a half-hour or an hour, usually, once per day to lay an egg. Then finally incubation starts and a duck is in the nest almost all the time.

This is who we’re looking for: