Wood Duck Box Work

[Paul Taylor]

Ran 26 of my boxes here in SC on Lake Murray yesterday. 11 clean outs, 8 hens sitting hard, 4 with fresh eggs, 1 fresh hatchlings, 1 snake ate a clutch (another snake reached a box after ducklings hatched and jumped, it shed on the way out). I was cutoff from one box by tree across a cove. I'll have to take a canoe and paddle to that one later.

I have 8 more boxes further up the lake I need check next.

 

[Eric Patterson]

Paul

That is simply awesome, except for the snake. Keep up the good work and the reporting.

 

[T Salvig]

Thanks for sharing and think a .22 would have worked for me with a snake!

 

[Paul Taylor]

I used to give black rat snakes a break but they are an apex predator when it comes to devouring duck and bird eggs. Unfortunately we've had some higher water on our lake and the snake in the video was able to make it over the predator guard.

 

[JasonM]

Snakes gotta eat too. It's just part of life. You do your best to give mama and her ducklings the best chance of survival but sometimes nature wins.

 

[Carl]

Very cool video!
Thanks for your hard work, it appears the woodies appreciate it!

 

[Brad Bortner]

Good stuff Paul, got predator guards on those posts?

 

[Paul Taylor]

Good stuff Paul, got predator guards on those posts?

You bet! Every one of them. Heavy rains caused the water to rise and allowed that rat snake access.

I hit 8 more boxes yesterday evening and cleaned out the box that was full of ducklings from Friday. It was a dump box and one duckling didn't make it out but a bunch did. Another hen usually nests right after I clean them out. I wonder how many ducklings that Blue Heron ate when the little ones jumped.

Check out the baby Screech Owls and the highlighted egg in the clutch from the sunlight! The sun seems to be candling it, I could zoom in and see the embryo development. I think it's still a Wood Duck egg but it sure stands out differently!

 

[Brad Bortner]

That predator guard doesn't seem to be working on that heron. Lol.

 

[Paul Taylor]

Nature is tough on ducklings no doubt!

Years ago I set a goal to help get a minimum of 400 ducklings to jump from my nesting boxes each Spring and hope for a 15-20% survival. That would "replace" the total average number of ducks I harvest annually. It's weird I know but it's something that puts ducks back into the wild and gets me through the offseason.