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.
