Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Wood Duck Nesting Boxes




Our neighborhood has really gotten into our "Woodies" or Wood Ducks and we have several nesting boxes scattered around our cove. Some sources would say we have too many too close together. But the Woodies aren't reading those sources! This is a design enhanced by our own local Duck Lady. The first shows the hand carved male Woodie (not bad for an amateur carver!), the second shows the Plexiglas shield that holds the nest in the box while we sneak a peek occasionally (it can be lifted in it's slot for cleaning out an old nest) and the third shows it mounted over at Buster's house. It's been a very successful lake home!

What you can't see is the hardware cloth installed below the opening on the front. The babies use it to pull themselves up and out of the box when mama calls (within 24 hours of birth). They must fall at least 5 feet to get their little digestive systems started! It's amazing..they hit the water running to mama! See my sidebar link to Michelle's Rambling Woods, too. She just ran a beautiful series of photos of Wood Ducks with a great story!

2 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

Thank you so much for referencing my post. I see the wonderful wood duck houses. People might consider getting one of those plastic predator guards so that snakes and raccoons can't get into the house to kill the female or to take the eggs..
--Michelle--

Jane Hards Photography said...

Well this is right up my street. Those boxes are so beautifully crafted. I would love to see what of those duckling come shooting out of there.

Thanks for the rminder about where I had seen the other beautiful wood ducks recently too.

Windy Start to Spring..Mar 18

Windy Start to Spring..Mar 18
Probably not the best day to start this blog.....