Wood ducks are in the air

A

anthony m coons sr

Well-known member
The other day I took a walk with my dog on the Hudson River Banks. I was looking into a small bay where we had placed a bunch of wood duck boxes over the years. It was about seven in the morning and the tide was coming up. As my dog was walking around I looked into the sky and saw a bunch of wood ducks in the air. I could hear their wings beating and could only see a few of them. But ! as my dog went down the launch ramp . I could hear even more wood ducks take off. It was something very positive !!! and in these times I will take it. I have been putting wood ducks boxes up for about forty years. And I'm hear to tell you its a rewarding feeling . When you know you helped out nature a little. We still have a bunch of boxes we couldn't even check yet. So I don't really know if its a good year or bad year. But the ones I have check so far look good. So time will tell. View attachment 20190312_100213.jpg
 
Clinton

Your welcome my friend, If your reading this your having a great day already. Life is short so do something positive with it. Help a friend or a duck. Come out on the good side of God. And even a bad day might not be so bad. Their are tons of great people on this site. They help everyone they can on here. There are some guys and gals that can turn junk into gold. Be happy my friend and live a clean life.
 
Eric

We can only do what we can do. Sometimes it works and some times it doesn't. But if enough of us keep doing it Chances are the wood duck population will be fine. I hope and pray that people like us are around for many years to come.To keep up the fight for the wood duck and the sport we all love.
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Anthony glad to hear the good news .i checked one of my boxes the other day and i saw a hen with her clutch of 5 ducklings and i believe that is the second clutch from that box this year .
 

Anthony,

Thank you so much for your report. Made me smile.

May have to start calling you Nessmuk, aka Wood Duck.


It has been very dry here until recently. Now I'll be able to spend less time in the shop carving, and back out on the streams and river where I belong.

Hopefully I'll be rewarded by seeing Wood Ducks I so much admire, as you did.


May the Good Lord keep you healthy & safe, to continue the wonderful work that you DO.


Best regards
Vince







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Vince

My friend ! thanks for the nice words. Even a guy like me that can't even hammer a nail straight can help the wood duck. Learn from some great men a long time ago. But I wanted to ask you these questions. Years ago all the stuff that I read and all the place I went to get information. DEC. US. Fish and Wildlife. DU, Delta Waterfowl. etc. all told me that the Wood Duck was a bird that like nesting near other wood ducks. Therefore we use to build nest right next to each other. We had three or four boxes mounted right next to each other. (And some years they worked . ) Now days they want the boxes about a hundred feet apart or so. They don't want you to mount them so much on trees but on post with guards. ( we mount most of our boxes in trees and have some really good success). They want you to clean them every year. Now I'm here to tell you that I do not clean all my boxes every year. We have to many of them out (160 give or take ) and getting to all them isn't always easy on the Hudson River, tides and water levels etc. I have had some ducks in the same nest for years. Now I know where I live we don't have all the snake problems that other have. We have coons and other nest robbers of course. But the trees seem to still work great for us. Ducks still find wood pecker holes and nest in them. Just like to hear your take.

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Anthony,

I'm for certain no expert concerning Wood Ducks. Have done a lot of reading & studying, but almost all of my knowledge is from personal observation over many years.

That said, I have seen more Wood Ducks seeking out, landing in trees, and nesting in trees than in nest boxes.

Have witnessed Wood Duck ducklings answer the Hens call, jump and bounce like tennis balls from the nest. Once was from a natural tree cavity, the other from a old nest box attached to a tree.


Years ago when my cousin and I made, and put up nest boxes we always attached them to trees, and had good success.

Did we clean the nest boxes? A few times. Do the Wood Ducks themselves clean out where they nest? I'm venturing a guess that to some degree they do, as birds tend to like to keep busy.


I would say the reason it's recommended not to attach to trees is for timber value, and issues such as that, but that is my personal opinion. There are fewer, and fewer trees that the Wood Ducks prefer every year, for various reasons.

The nests that I do encounter tend to be isolated, and not clustered. As there is only so much food/insects, for the ducklings to go around.


What I have learned, and absolutely believe is a poor insect hatch, means a poor Wood Duck hatch.

Each stream, river, marsh, swamp, beaver pond, has it's own insect hatch and place in the food chain. On many of the waters, the Caddis hatch offers the Wood Duck ducklings prime protein. I've spent many a time watching the ducklings feast on Caddis along the banks and edges.


As for predators. With shrinking habitat and more predators than ever, no matter where, nesting production takes a big hit. With the introduction of Fishers it is now even worse. I'm on the steams a lot, and each time, I see more predators than game. That's just how it is.


IMO if ya wanna help the Wood Duck, join Trout Unlimited. Clean Water = Insects = Wood Ducks.


Thank goodness there are less waterfowlers these days. Cuz if it were like in the past, the 3 Wood Duck limit (can all be hens) would not be good, and YES I can imagine the demise of the Wood Duck. History does repeat itself. To think it can't happen is foolish, especially these days.



my 2 cents
Vince
 
Vince

I agree with everything you said. I have been putting hundreds of boxes in trees for years. With great success some years and so so years also. But with that said I have had more success with boxes in trees then on post. My club has placed over a thousands boxes over the years. With better then average success! so I'm fine with that. Putting post up on the Hudson doesn't always work very well. You have to battle ice in the winter and high tides during the years. So most times you get one year out of the box. Not cost effective, Post and guards work great in ponds and swamps and a few other wetlands. But on rivers and the big lakes not so much. Ice has even taken out some trees that we had boxes mounted on. So for the most parts what ever works for your area go with that. Anything and everything is worth a try. Heck I even seen boring a big hole in a tree work.
Insects play a huge part in the life of wood ducks and many other birds and animals population. Thank you as always for your input. Get out side and see what mother nature has left for us. It still a wonderful world we live in ! if you can see past the problems she has these days You will still see her beauty. Your old eyes are not ready to retire. You will fine something out there to bring you back to the good old days.

God bless and stay safe
Anthony
 

Anthony,

If it were not for the outdoors I would be in a world of trouble, if even still here. [;)]


Just a footnote about nests.

Since a series of strong T - storms. I have found many empty songbird, and other bird nests on the ground, during my daily walks and ramblings.

Only ONE was made completely from natural material gathered by birds.

All others had plastic (a wide array), and other man made materials woven into the the nests. To me that is very disturbing.

I'd rather not dwell on the affect it has on the birds, and all wildlife, or my blood pressure will go sky high.


The Good Old Days were not all that great, but they sure were different, and less complex.


A bright spot came the other day when I visited a good friend, who's home is in a wonderful setting.

He took me to one particular Blue Bird nest box, on the edge of a flowing stream and woodland.

"I opened the nest box to clean it, and a Flying Squirrel jumped out on my shoulder, and then glided away."

We both stood there in awe, smiling, looking at the nest box. "Bet it's in there right now..."



Best Regards
Vince
 
Vince

The great outdoors are full of some crazy things. When you open that box it most of scared the heck out of you. But after it got off of you you must of laughed. When you check any bird box or wood duck box you never know what will be inside. Other then birds you can find just about any creatures inside those boxes. Just on this site people have sent me pictures of snakes , squirrels, other birds, etc. But we can not forget the creatures in the water and on the ground that eat the poor little ducklings. Bass love little ducklings, just on my little pond every time wood ducks nest the dam bass have a field day. They knock them off one by one. I guess it all works out. Does mean I have to like it. What I hate the most is when bees make the boxes there home. There is know running from them. You get lite up fast and your hurting for a few days. I bet this year my boxes have a few nasty bees in them. I think I check them when cold weather comes . Thanks again for your 2 cents. I enjoy it every time .

anthony
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Anthony,

You are correct!

Ya never know.

Cold weather may help.


What is very interesting is where my friend lives.

Timber Rattler prime habitat, and unfortunately some have been killed by neighbors.

Not a place where checking nest boxes sounds like fun.


Best
VP
 

Vince

Checking wood duck boxes or any bird box for that matter. Isn't worth a snake bite that could kill you. We do what we can ! and we can do lots of good. I know for a fact in our area here in the Hudson Valley and the Capital District in New York State. We have help the wood duck a great deal over the years. I can remember a time when it was a big deal getting a wood duck. Same things go for geese. People laugh at me when I tell them there was a time. Where the Canada Goose was a rare thing around here. Man can do great things if we all work together. But that rarely happens. Last year I seen or saw what ever word that fits. More large groups of wood duck then I ever have. Opening day we got into a nice flock and had our limit early in the morning. If this dry weather stays around big water will be the place to hunt this year. We need real rain to bring the levels up. Swamps are almost dry in some spots.

Other Notes- Many of the members on this site do some wonderful things. And we are proud to see their work and to hear about how they go about their business. You can learn a great deal from the art of making a duck to building a boat, to making a blind , to building a wood duck nest, Learn about how to fix a old shot gun to just about anything to do with waterfowl hunting. People like you that think your given only your two cents. In fact your given years and years of fact checks to all of us. If you been there and done that you know what your talking about. There are so many people on hear that I look forward to what they have to say. And your one of them.

anthony
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