Wood duck nesting box update

I figured it out! It's a major design flaw, methinks. There are three pre-drilled holes across the top, b

It's an interesting pond!

ut my trees are NOT flat, and it must have been designed for a human-made support.

My other box was  built on a flat piece with a hole top and bottom for placement. I inserted a brace under #2, which isn't pretty, but with the dearth of natural nesting spots in trees, I'm sure they will be happy with it.

I peeked into the first box to check on progress. Shortly after I installed #1 last year, we hosted a momma and 5 ducklings hatched.

The nesting boxes are supposed to be on a dead tree, and I should chop off the top, as critters can climb down into the box this way. I had a spare piece of metal that I wrapped around the bottom. This prevent critters from climbing up.

#1 secured top
and bottom

You can see my photos of the downy feathers in the nest, preparing for the eggs.

Once all the eggs are laid, one per day, they have 24 hours before they all jump for joy and take off for the marsh.
The cool thing about the ducklings is that they climb up the ladder and hop out of the hole onto the ground. This is what wood duck ducklings do!

This is a long shot of our frog pond

Wood duck box #2

Box #1 has nesting feathers inside!
Daisy was looking for mice friends.
I have dead elms I need taken down

The perfect place for eggs!

See the ladder for the
ducklings to climb up!

My tool bag

Finally, #2 is done