Outdoor Mysteries

BY CHRIS ZIMMERMAN

Slightly smaller than a mallard, drake wood ducks may be the prettiest of all waterfowl.

Ready for occupancy. Nest boxes over water are ideal because the ducklings hop out of the hole to a splash landing.

IT IS MID-FEBRUARY as I write this. Snow is piled high. Our lakes; frozen and still. Seems like every living creature that hasn’t gone south for the winter is scrounging for sustenance and counting down the days until spring finally arrives. Myself included.

What better way to wait away the winter days than to build a nest box for one of North America’s prettiest ducks: the wood duck. Prized for their beautiful feathers and noted for their fine table fare, wood ducks haven’t always been as plentiful as they are now.

Mike Brasher is a waterfowl scientist with Ducks Unlimited in Memphis, Tennessee. “At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, wood ducks were almost hunted to extinction,” he said. “When the federal government took control of migratory hunting seasons back in 1918, one of the first things they did was close wood duck hunting. During the 20’s and 30’s, there was no open season on wood ducks, but thankfully they have made a tremendous comeback. Today, they’re one of the most widely distributed ducks east of the Mississippi.”

Wood duck numbers have increased in part because of habitat improvements. Mature forests lend themselves to wood duck production because broken limbs lead to hollow trunks that are ideal for nesting wood ducks. According to Brasher, wood ducks are secondary cavity nesters, which means, they are reliant on something else making their nesting site for them. “They’ll use old woodpecker holes to access a hollow tree trunk,” Brasher said, “and the hens don’t take material to their nest like ground nesting ducks do. They’re stuck with what’s inside the cavity.”

Wood duck hens are not as colorful as their male counterparts. They’re rather drab in color, with a faint white ring around their eyes. On average, 10-12 cream-colored eggs are laid in a nest lined with the hen’s downy feathers. Incubation takes about 28 days before the chicks emerge from the egg, crawl up the edge of the cavity, and drop out of the nest entrance.

Several years ago, a hen wood duck pulled off a successful brood by nesting in an old maple tree in front of my office in downtown Shepherd. Although we congratulated her on hatching 14, ping-pong-ball sized ducklings, we had to question her choice in nest sites. After all, downtown Shepherd isn’t exactly a waterfowl haven. My office is blocks away from the nearest waterway.

I’m not sure what happened to Mrs. Woodie and her clutch of little ones, but I can only imagine how she dodged traffic, curious onlookers, backyard fences, cats, dogs and a host of other perils on her way to the Salt Creek on the east edge of Shepherd.

The better choice of nesting sites would be Canadian Lakes. Marshes, water courses, cattails - all desirable habitat for ducks. There is no shortage of mature trees in the area. Not every tree is a possible nest site, but every nesting site for wood ducks has to be some sort of cavity.

Brasher said there are two important parts to installing your own wood duck house. “The house should be at least four feet off the

Hen wood duck and her brood Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited

ground, or the surface of the water. The other important thing is to install a predator guard on the pole, so racoons can’t reach the entrance to the nest box.” Predator guards look like overgrown cones, made from steel or plastic that keep racoons and other egg-eating critters from shimmying their way up the pole.

At least four inches of wood shavings (not saw dust) should be placed in the bottom of the box and changed once a year. Late winter or early spring is a good time to do these housekeeping tasks.

Brasher says that if a duck box is in a really conspicuous location, more than one hen will lay their eggs inside. This phenomenon is called “brood parasitism” and is bad news for the eggs. Instead of one hen laying 10-12 eggs, multiple hens may dump their eggs inside the cavity which is too many for one hen to incubate. The best place to put up a duck box is over, or adjacent to, water and somewhat concealed by natural vegetation.

My neighbor and I installed a wood duck box on a marsh bordering one of the golf courses in Canadian Lakes. We drilled holes in the ice, then rammed a couple metal fence posts into the marsh bottom. Plastic tubing over the posts will deter predators from climbing up the posts but just to be on the safe side we installed predator guards on the posts made from metal flashing. The top of the box is about four feet off the surface of the water. In a lot of ways, the duck box is in a perfect setting: comfortable, safe, and a gorgeous view...something we all can appreciate living in Canadian Lakes.

Don’t be surprised if something other than a wood duck makes a home out of your wood duck box. Screech owls and northern flickers are common users. So are hooded mergansers. As any realtor will tell you, location is important if your home appeals to a wide variety of suitors.

Drake wood duck flank feathers are lemon colored, and striped with tiny, squiggly bars. Trout fishermen use those feathers tied to a hook to imitate mayflies and minnows. My grandpa kept a couple of Wood Duck feathers under the band on his felt fedora.

Once upon a time, I was an avid duck hunter. The days of getting up early, driving to a secluded marsh, and battling windy, nasty weather no longer appeal to me. As much as I enjoyed eating duck, I get more of a thrill just watching ducks throughout spring, summer and fall. Building a nest box for them not only helps the ducks, but it’s something fun to do before winter finally, mercifully ends.

Chris Zimmerman is a Canadian Lakes resident and author of six Michigan-based mysteries.

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