Post contributed by Kelsey Jennings, Conservation Corps Youth Outdoors Crew Member:
 |
| Remnants of a dump nest |
I'm sure
while walking along Lake Como, you have seen them: wooden boxes placed 10 or so
feet offshore. Occasionally you'll see a male duck with iridescent plumage and
white flares down his neck swimming around below them or sitting in the trees
above. But, if you're really lucky, you'll see what I affectionately refer to
as the "hatchling leap of faith." One by one, 7-15 ducklings jump from their warm nests into
the cold spring water, only to return much later to have a nest of their own.
Wood ducks or
Aix sponsa pair in late winter, with the females laying eggs in early spring. Typically,
the females will lay anywhere between 10 and 20 eggs. However, if breeding pairs
nest too close to one another, the females will lay eggs in both nests, a
behavior called "nest dumping." In a nest dump, it is likely to have
upwards of 40 eggs in a single nest, but amounts over 60 have been discovered.
A nest that possesses this many eggs will likely be unsuccessfully incubated,
and unless cleaned out, will not be used again.
 |
| Filling wood duck boxes with nesting material |
During
incubation, male wood ducks remain present to protect the female, but will
abandon the clutch before the ducklings hatch.
In Minnesota, females lay their eggs in early-mid April, with the ducklings typically hatching in May. Less than 24 hours after hatching,
the mother will leave the nest and call to the babies from the water until all
of the ducks have jumped. Wood ducks are unique from many other waterfowl in
the way that they possess sharp claws used for perching in trees. These claws
are needed for the ducklings to crawl from the bottom of the nest to the
opening, which can be anywhere from a one to five foot climb.
Due to severe
habitat loss and over-hunting in the 1800's, wood ducks and many other
waterfowl species were virtually wiped out by the beginning of the 20th
century. In 1918, the United States passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which
outlawed the hunting and scavenging of over 800 migratory bird species,
including the wood duck. Many species quickly rebounded to stable numbers, but
the wood ducks still struggled due to expansive habitat destruction. The
artificial wood duck house that we see today was implemented in the 1930's and
provided a much needed boost to the population. Due to the continued efforts of
natural resource officials and passionate landowners, the wood duck population
has stabilized and they are now the second most commonly hunted duck in North
America, behind the mallard. If you are
interested in implementing a wood duck house on your property, they are easy to
assemble and plans can be found here: http://www.woodducksociety.com/duckhouse.htm. Although wood ducks prefer to nest near or over water, they will nest up to 1.5
miles away from a water source.
