Thank you to all who responded to my inquiry regarding Wood Duck nest box
failure. Here is my summary of the responses.
1. The most general and common response was that nest failures are not that
uncommon. Several responders indicated this year was less successful than
most recent years. A combination of factors might contribute to nest
failure, including bad weather.
2. Several responses mentioned predation, specifically Raccoons and
Cooper's Hawks. I am pretty confident my box is free from Raccoons but I
had not considered the hawk. I had also, perhaps erroneously, ruled out
predation because I had observed a Wood Duck hen on the pond with two young.
Concluding this was the same hen that incubated the eggs in the box may not
be valid. Also, since I moved my boxes from the tree to a predator guarded
pole several years ago, I have had no nest failures, maybe lulling me into a
false sense of security (I had 100% nest failure on the tree). We have
Cooper's and Broad-winged hawks in the neighborhood. We also have at least
one, and maybe more, enormous Snapping Turtles on the pond. However, I
think the turtle would represent a greater threat to the chicks than an
adult duck. We have foxes and coyotes in the area, so there are lots of
predators around. Side note: All the duck families left the pond this year
including the Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks, and Mallards.
3. Nest dumping could contribute. I know I have a good deal of nest
dumping (note the foster mom Hooded Merganser mentioned in my earlier post).
Also three years ago, I had one Wood Duck hen with 22 young, an obvious case
of dumping. In that case, I managed to capture about half the chicks
jumping out in a video. One responder suggested the possibility no hen took
responsibility if there was too much conflict in the box. I have added a
third box in an effort to minimize nest dumping.
I guess the bottom line is that, as we all know, nature is finicky and
harsh. Just more justification to find and install a camera next year.
Sid Stivland
Plymouth, MN
-----Original Message-----
From: Sid Stivland
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 11:31 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [mou-net] Wood Duck egg failure
OK – a question for all of you duck experts out there.
This week I added an additional Wood Duck next box here at the Stivland
ranch in Plymouth. As part of the project, we cleaned out the existing
boxes. Sadly, one of the Wood Duck boxes had 13 un-hatched eggs in it. The
other box was inhabited by “our” resident Hooded Merganser. There was only
one un-hatched egg in that box. Presumably, that would explain the broods
we observed on the pond at about the time we expected hatching chicks. Our
Wood Duck hen had only two chicks in tow. The Hoody had 7 Hooded Merganser
chicks and 4 baby Wood Ducks.
Since I have not had the benefit of Breeding Bird Atlas observations this
year (very few trips to my areas) I do not know if this is a general problem
or a local one. In other words, was the nest failure; 1) Long cold spring
possibly compromising the eggs prior to incubation, 2) Inexperienced hen
doing a poor job of incubation, 3) Unfertilized eggs, or 4) something else?
Last spring, I observed many Wood Duck broods on ponds and very few
Mallards.
I have pondered a camera in the nesting box for several years. Maybe this
is the impetus I need to peer into the problem.
Sid Stivland
Plymouth, MN
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