Tuesday 5 May 2020

Wood ducks on the pond

I went down to the pond and cleared away branches from wood duck box #1. You can see the small ones near. I took them down. Peeking in the box, a duck has been in and shaped a nice hollow. We shall see.


The dead tree is getting unstable. I shall have to move it after the season is over. I hesitate to move it now. I have to find another tree facing south. The good ones have the other two boxes. What do you think?

The box needs a bit of a guard. The shaving fall out if I inspect it. I meant to fix that last year. sigh.

I wonder if these two are too close, although, one year there were 22 eggs in one box, which is more than one duck can lay. I just don't know. I'm having trouble with decisions these days.

The poor dead tree!


Six lovely eggs. Ah well. They will lay more.

The wood ducks have been busy. This is a good sign. The males still chase the other males away from their females.

trailcam may 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In this video, you can see two coming in.

Wood ducks landing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We had one goose, too. Spring unfolds...

Canada goose from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

8 comments:

Tom said...

...wood ducks are such beauties. Enjoy your spring, we could get a bit of snow this weekend!

eileeninmd said...

The wood ducks are beautiful, love them! Take care, enjoy your day!

RedPat said...

I do hope you get some Wood Duck babies!

Nancy J said...

The geese, they are such beauties, regal and so graceful . Weather, 5 Celsius here, maybe snow further south, the fire is lit!!!

Red said...

it looks like some of your mama woods ducks had some confusion or else they are not very smart.

Kay said...

They say nature is doing much better with humans staying home.

Angie said...

Jenn - you perform such an excellent service for these wood ducks. Could you build a 'fake' tree to replace the one that has become unstable? Thanks for publishing these fascinating videos!

Jenn Jilks said...

They do have wood duck boxes on posts in many spots around here, Angie. It's a thought. I don't know where to get them, though. I could put it in a different spot next year. I'm just having trouble with decisions these days, though!