We have had four fledgings of wood ducklings from our two boxes this year. The female always leaves with the ducklings within just a few minutes and takes them through the woods to the undeveloped property next door. I caught the last fledging with my video surveillance system. The 4-channel version illustrates the ducklings climbing out of the box and then jumping to the water.
http://youtu.be/LWFF0ijnWx0You can make out three splashes that looked to me like bass trying to catch the ducklings as they landed. It looked like the third one was probably successful. The single channel version looked even more convincing.
http://youtu.be/rVBLPSs2UNY The duckling that jumped just after the large splash moved across the water to Mama really fast; I guess it saw what had just happened to his sibling, and wanted no part of that.
The bass were stocked in the summer of 2010, and the largest we have caught so far are a just a little over one pound. The survival rate of wood ducklings is pretty low, and I guess bass are one reason.
