Dumpers

Looks like you,ve mounted your bx. to a tree. If you,ve got racoons or black snakes in your area they,ll have an easy meal of the eggs in that bx. Best to mount on post with predator guard under bx. to keep the pests at bay. I,ve placed several over the years and even branches close to bx. provide an easy pathway for predators to gain entry and they will find it.
 
Its on a small island and have been using trees on the islands without predator issues for years. I have always used predator guards when on the main land or stop sign posts out in the water.
 
roy brewington said:
Glad your not having predator issues. Moma Woodie needs all the help she can get to be successful.
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Maybe it's just me, to my eye it's Momma Hoodie rather than Momma Woodie. The photo does appear a bit fuzzy on my screen.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
roy brewington said:
Glad your not having predator issues. Moma Woodie needs all the help she can get to be successful.
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Maybe it's just me, to my eye it's Momma Hoodie rather than Momma Woodie. The photo does appear a bit fuzzy on my screen.
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Zooming in for a closer look,,,,,,,,,,I'm seeing the head, bill and eye, of a female Woodie on the inside of the box (left half of the opening.) With an intruder Hoodie hanging on the outside.
 
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You sure that isn't a hen hooded merganser trying to get in and a hen woody adding a wood duck egg to the merganser clutch?
 
Brad Bortner said:
You sure that isn't a hen hooded merganser trying to get in and a hen woody adding a wood duck egg to the merganser clutch?
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That's certainly a possibility. Why sit on an egg if you can use a surrogate? [laugh]
 
Brad Bortner said:
You sure that isn't a hen hooded merganser trying to get in and a hen woody adding a wood duck egg to the merganser clutch?
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Certain the hoodie is trying to dump. I've chased her out a couple times.
 
I think that they are either both competing for the nest box or the hen wood duck is dumping an egg on the merganser clutch. Woodies are more likely to dump nest than mergansers but both will do it.

Dave its called nest or brood parasitism, happens in a number of bird species, probably most famously in brown headed cowbirds or cuckoos. In waterfowl in happens in a variety of ways from same species to different species. Redheads parasitize canvasbacks and other species, while wood ducks, hooded mergansers, goldeneye will dump eggs in nests of hens of the same species or maybe a different species. There are lots of theories on why this happens but I'll save that for another time.
 
Bet Hedging or Hedge Betting, or something like that, if I remember from by Ecology class!

Blackbelly whistling ducks apparently nest dump as well, there were over 20 eggs in one nest box here last year. Strangely, they all seemed to hatch.
 
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