We had weekend visitors!

💕 Happily, we expected the kids. We were having a sleepover! I'd asked for help rehanging the wood duck nesting box. You'll recall I took it down, with great effort, over several days, ready to move it. [More work to do!] I'd walked the perimeter of the property in snowshoes, and found the only likely tree away from the frogpond. The wetland is wet with our warm temperatures. I'll bet the ducks return home sooner rather than later.

We hauled it down on the sled, with the ladder, and the drill. We are ready to go. 

What a lovely day! It was so nice to see the sun.

This old sled, still sits by the tree. I'd found it in the wetland one year when the wetland was frozen, not wet! I've been leery these days. Winterlude in Ottawa isn't exactly Waterlude, but we haven't had cold enough temperatures for people to skate.

Next, we watched Jeopardy. Josee kept score for us. Caitlin was the hands down winner! 

After watching two Jeopardy shows we'd taped, we watched some old YouTube kidlet videos Chromecast on the TV!

We had a concert.

Cinnamon was confused. He took off!

duet from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a yummy dinner. I'd watched them create a Potato Bacon Roses dish on a talk show <= click there for the recipe. You slice potoatoes thinly, sprinkle olive oil and seasonings on them, lay them out on a couple pieces of bacon, roll 'em up and bake in a muffin tin. My SIL and I made that. It took an army. He prepared carrots, green beans and beef tenderloin on the BBQ. It was wonderful! 

Dessert was wee Valentine cupcakes JB picked up. Mini ones! Just yummy, although there was one missing. Snitched whilst working hard at making us dinner! 

On the way back to the house, an Isabella caterpillar.

Wood duck disaster

Box #1 on a dead tree, note the baffle

It makes me sad. We've been coping as best we can these days. This was a disappointment.

• April 5th – first ones spotted
• April 30th – mating behaviour on the pond
• May 1 – I found box #1 totally emptied. Eggs eaten, and 7 whole eggs on the ground.

I don't know how the predator cleared everything out of the box.



I refilled it and will hope for the best. It's so sad. It is early in the season. I hope they nest again, maybe in the other box. There are baffles under all the boxes on the trees. Box #2 is empty, as well.

This is nest box #3 and it is full! I flushed her from the nest, not realizing. I had not seen another pair on the pond.

Nutmeg cat, meantime, was off to the vet. One of them has been throwing up. We think it is her. I'm at my wit's end. JB took her off to the vet. They picked her carrier up and took her inside. JB waited in the car. They phoned me, they gave her an x-ray and she has undigested bones in her digestive system. We've got laxatone to give her, to help flush them out. They brought her back out, and gave JB the bill and he paid the $350.

Saturday's Critters #333

Wood duck nesting boxes 2019

2019 report

I have three nesting boxes on the frog pond. Two of the three have hatched out. The last one hadn't hatched yesterday. We'll see what happens today.

Box #1 was the 2nd one to be filled. Hatched May 27th. 12 eggs.

Box #2 is due to hatch around June 5th, 10 eggs. 

Box #3 is the earliest to have been laid. They hatched May 30th. There were 22 eggs! 

May 3

Box #1 has about 9 eggs in it.

May 9th Box #3 is full; click here for the video. 

May 23 – We are waiting!

Box #1 was the 2nd one to be filled. Hatch day May 30th. 12 eggs.

Box #2 is due to hatch around June 5th. 12 eggs. The raccoons have been trying to get at it.

Box #3 is the earliest to have been laid. They are due to hatch May 21st or so. There are 22 eggs! Usually they lay 6 - 15, but I think someone (without a nest box) has been sneaking in!

Sadly, my friend's wood duck eggs were killed by a fisher last week. Right in their back. They watched in horror.

"Once threatened with near extinction, populations of one of North America’s most recognizable and celebrated waterfowl are now stable or increasing."

Despite its importance in population dynamics, duckling survival is one of the most poorly understood components of the waterfowl life cycle. It takes 50-70 days for ducklings to attain flight status, and survival during this period is highly variable, ranging from less than 10 percent to as high as 70 percent. The most common causes of duckling mortality include predation, adverse weather conditions, starvation, disease, and parasites. Ducklings are excellent fare for nearly every type of predator, including fish (largemouth bass and northern pike), amphibians (bullfrogs), reptiles (snakes and snapping turtles), and mammals (foxes, raccoons, mink, and feral cats). Likewise, other birds such as hawks, owls, gulls, herons, and crows will make a meal of ducklings.

May 26 – I was in for a surprise

After watching box #3 closely, it could hatch any day now, I was surprised by seeing ducklings in box #1. They shouldn't be ready!

May 27th – Box #1 is empty

Jump for freedom 7:38 a.m. I managed to capture a video of an egg hatching. Then, I went back, having moved the videocam, and captured them leaving the nest. One duckling remains on the pond, which isn't good. She should have followed momma into the depths of the wetland.

May 30th – Box #3 is empty

I had NOTHING on the trailcams. How disappointing. I am part of citizen science Bird Studies Canada Project Nest Watch Canada. They won't be back, and I'll not see the ducklings again. It's too dangerous on the pond. 

This is a little duckling, trailing after its mother and siblings, headed for the safety of the deep wetland. I spotted it a couple of years ago. They'd come from across the highway and the lake.

They've done well to survive and I wish them well in the wetland. I've now watched 34 eggs (12 + 22) hatch out 29 chicks from two of the nesting boxes. 

May 31st

I'm having a hard time getting photos of the jump off. 

 Can you see her in these two photos? This is all I get. The ducklings are too small to trigger it, I think.

April 23

Box # 3. I walked down to the pond, and flushed her from the nest though I didn't mean to. She heard me coming and scampered. I counted 5 or 6 eggs.

April 22

Three ducks in three nesting boxes! No downy feathers yet.

April 19

April 17

 wood ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

April 8th

This is the last box to have a tenant. I went down June 8th, and she was still on the nest. The eggs showed no signs of hatching. On June 9th, the box was empty and 10 ducklings are off on an adventure. NOTHING on either trailcam. I am so disappointed. We're done for the year.

We've had some cold temperatures, but they were to hatch on or after June 5th.
Sadly, the crows had been harassing her.


Here she is hopping back into the box.


June
The last few days continued to be cool. They are tucked and cozy inside the box, with wood shavings. On top of that, downy feathers. I estimated 10 eggs by gently feeling inside the box.

She is bothered by critters enough. The crow in the day, Butch raccoon by night. I have failed to capture much on the trailcams.
Suddenly, on the weekend, we had higher temperatures and sunshine. It was a fine weekend. Sunday morning, they were gone.