Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Wood Ducks

They're baaaack. Two sets checking out the boxes. I hope they appreciate the incredible craftmanship.

Hope to have some using the three boxes I put out on the new pond. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will see some around our area

They usually start showing up in this area around mid to lake March, shouldn't be too much longer...

I would be interested in learning more what you need to attract them, habitat needs, etc.

I would love to see some pictures of the boxes and where you placed them. I have built a couple but I haven't put them out yet. Are they mounted on trees or poles?

Wood ducks nest in cavities in trees. The practice of placing wood duck "boxes" has assisted wood ducks in recovering in numbers in recent years. Wood ducks generally nest in riparian habitats but will occasionally nest as much as a mile away from waterways. However, the hen will lead her brood on that long 1 mile trek back to the waterway which can lead to high chick mortality. High-quality wood duck habitat is old growth timber along waterway corridors with an availability of nesting sites. Habitat areas chosen by wood ducks are often used by other waterfowl species such as black ducks, hooded mergansers and ring-necked ducks. If utilizing wood duck boxes, do not mount them to trees. This practice often leads to the boxes being taken over by squirrels, raccoons and others or can lead to predation by these species, snakes, minks and others on the eggs or even the hen herself. Instead, mount the box to a pole at least 6' from other trees and 8' from the ground. Utilize a predator guard about 2' from the bottom of the box. Hen wood ducks are just as likely to utilize a nesting box placed in this manner but will have a much higher nesting success rate.


Food for chicks and adults differs dramatically. The early diet of ducklings consists largely of insects, aquatic invertebrates, small fish, and other high-protein animal material. After about six weeks of age, the young gradually switch to plant foods until their diet consists of approximately 90 percent vegetative material. Plants commonly consumed include aquatic plants such as algae, watermeal, watershield, sago pondweed, and duckweed. Adult wood ducks feed on a variety of nuts and fruits, aquatic plants and seeds, and aquatic insects and other invertebrates. Insects and aquatic invertebrates are particularly important food items of adult hens during egg laying in spring. Acorns and other forest mast are important fall and winter foods. While acorns are the primary winter foods, the seeds of bald cypress, hickory, sweet gum, buttonbush, arrow-arum, bur-reed, and wild rice are also common winter foods. Wood ducks feed primarily in shallow water areas, but will also forage on the forest floor for seeds, acorns, and nuts.

Keep these plant species in mind when planting around the edge of your pond. When doing forest harvesting, consider allowing mature species that produce wood duck foods to remain. The highly manicured back yard pond many want are not the best wood duck ponds.

They also like Aquamax and will set their watches to your feeder.

I had some "too early" visitors to my two new boxes last week. It prompted me to add the cedar shavings to the bottoms of the boxes.

Mine are mounted at water's edge on four by fours. I want to put some kind of squirred guard on the posts. I am looking for something that will fit snugly around the post much like a vinyl or aluminum cap on a 4 x 4. Anyone know of something that would work?

remember this oldie, Bing?

I know a guy who lives basically in the middle of a field with a pond and nothing around it. He has about 8-12 houses around a 1/4 acre pond, kinda looks rediculous to me but hey his pond he can do what he wants. He always has ducks in his pond. I was thinking of doing some wood duck houses but i hardly ever have a duck in my pond so i didnt know if theyd take or not? I do have all black really skinny bird/duck that goes under water for very long distances for a very long time its kinda neat..

That sounds like a cormorant. You want to feed him some .22 hollowpoint grain.

I used some ideas from a PB article. I used 4 inch PVC instead of poles. They are in the water (put them in during low tide). Put them where they can't see both boxes. Otherwise you have egg dumping.

If you cut the holes the right size, you may also get black bellied whistling ducks. They are fantastic parents. They stay with the babes for four months! Also not very skittish.

BGK We used to call them Mud Hens. We considered them targets for BB and .22 Cal. projectiles. I may have been wrong but I don't think they were a protected species. Since it was about 50 years ago it probably doesn't matter.

Sniper:

Are these the ducks that you were talking about?


The other name for MudHens is Coots.

Yessir! Grrrrrreat picture. But you could hardly confuse these with Coot.

We had a pair two years ago that had ducklings and stayed with them 128 days on our pond.

A good friend has a place near Sulphur Springs and he's had about a dozen call one of his ponds home for the past few years. That's where I took the pic. He has Woodies nesting as well. That was the first time I saw those kind of ducks. We don't have the whistling ducks up here.

You are a very good photographer. What kind of lens is that?

We are about 10 klicks due south of Sulphur Springs.

The Whistlers come up very near our house and visit with our tame ducks. One day last July a coyote came calling to crash the party and I was just (no lie) cleaning my aught 6......... Yep.

I am guessing the coyote never made its way back to its den?

Sniper, I can only take credit for the first pic, my buddy took the other 2. My camera is just a cheap 8 mp point and shoot Kodak. He has a digital Nikon or something like that. One of his hobbies is photography. He's had pictures published in a number of magazines.

Brettski has a very nice wood duck nesting box design. I think he also developed a way to protect the hen without the shield.

Black bellied whistling ducks will also use nesting boxes but need box dimensions about 1 1/2 inches larger than the wood duck boxes. Also, they need a five inch entry hole instead of the 4x3 hole of a wood duck box.

A pair of whistling ducks at the pond hatched a brood of eight ducklings last year of which six survived. Both parents stayed with the brood and all left in late fall. Early this week, I saw eight whistling ducks on the pond bank and, although I can't be certain, I like to think that they are the same ducks that left. Yesterday I noticed that about twenty others had joined them. They are very gregarious, staying clumped up on the bank, far prefering the bank to the water.
Last year they stayed from spring to fall, never leaving as wood ducks do. They are not as wild as wood ducks and, given time, will come as close as 100 feet to the camp even with people sitting in plain view, which supports my having read that they are easily domesticated.

Bing

I just opened my boxes last weekend and found coon droppings in my cedar shavings and eggshells! I too went without any kind of squirrel baffle and thought my boxes were safe when I placed a sheath of pvc over my 1.5" steel pipe. I think I actually helped them grip with the pvc - rookie mistake.

I just installed three squirrel baffles today and got mine from Amazon. I noticed they had baffles designed for 4x4's - here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_19?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=squirrel+baffle+4x4&sprefix=squirrel+baffle+4x4

There are several different types from which to choose - hope this helps. I'm sure a much more handy guy could fashion something much cheaper - I lack the time and expertise, sadly.

Hope my WD nesting efforts are more fruitful this year.

Bing, if you'll PM me your full name and address (or post it here), I'll send you a plan for making a shield from a 40 inch square of sheet metal. The result will be a conical shield with a square hole at the top that a 4x4 will fit through with tabs allowing it to be secured to the 4x4. Of course, in accepting the plan, you agree not to patent it and also agree to relieve me of responsibility if you injure yourself or someone else when making the shield. Sheet metal is springy and injury is very possible.

These shields are important. Remember, we want to keep snakes out as well. Or really any climbing varmint.

I really have a near video game going. Our house is parallel to our longish pond. When the water is down, the coyotes slink across the opposite shore sniffing and etc. If I go out on my deck (armed of course) and they look across, all they see is a shaded, dark porch. The sun is right in their face. BANG.

I have always maintained reservations on the ability of 4" PVC to thwart coons. I suppose coating the PVC with grease would likely help.