Wouldn't THAT be something. Not to mislead -- I'm not reporting an active Bufflehead nest here in Hennepin County -- however, we do have a female Bufflehead bravely attempting to enter our duck boxes on Red Rock Lake here in Eden Prairie (SW suburb of Minneapolis). I say bravely because our two in-the-lake boxes are hotly contested for by the usual Hooded Mergs and Wood Ducks, the tenacious mergs always winning-out over the more numerous Wood Ducks. I've watched the female merg go after the female Bufflehead with a vengeance when she gets near her box, squawking away as she nips the smaller duck in the rear as the males of both species watch from several feet away. This morning at breakfast a female Bufflehead (with her male mate nearby) tried to fly into the entrance hole of one of the boxes but swerved back down to the water when she saw that the box was occupied. I wonder if she actually has an egg to push out or if its just extinct that causes her fly up to the box. In our five years of having at least one duckbox up this is the first time we've noticed Bufflehead showing signs of wanting to nest here. I see the range map puts this species' breeding area well across the Canadian border where it is is known to nest in duck boxes when a smaller cavity is not available. Wouldn't it be interesting to discover a Bufflehead egg (or a little Bufflehead) in the box -- however, we do not do nest cams, nor have the facility to open the box while it is in the lake.
Any one else have similar Bufflehead experience in Minnesota? I would expect this has certainly happened before. Don Darnell Eden Prairie Hennepin Cty. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
