I finally made it out to the farm today and saw two pairs of ducks together on the creek. I think they were blue-winged teal.

I then saw an egg shell on a sandbar with no visible nest anywhere nearby. That made me wonder how a duck nest on the ground could possibly survive against being raided by the abundant raccoons in the area.

What is the main reason people put up wood duck boxes?

Is it because they ONLY nest in a cavity, or will wood ducks utilize a ground nest if they can't find a suitable tree cavity?

If I put up some wood duck boxes that do not get used by wood ducks (which I only rarely see at our farm), will other species of dabbling ducks use the boxes?

If I do put up some boxes I could easily drive some posts in my streambed. Would 4-6" of running water keep out the raccoons? Would a pool 3-4' deep keep out the raccoons?

Thanks for any advice from the experts. Our creek is heavily tree lined - so when I do observe ducks living there, I always feel like they are there for protection. If the area is truly a refuge for them, I would at least like them to have a better chance at raising a family!

P.S. If most of the other ducks I am likely to see in southern Kansas are all ground nesting ducks, is there anything humans can do for those species to help protect the eggs and the ducklings?

Thanks,
FishinRod

Island in the pond Rod... safest place they can be.
To your first question on the wood ducks, I think there's an art to placing the boxes and I think I remember a thread here on that.
I have a pair nesting under my floating dock. Apparently she built a nest on top of a barrel. I have 2X6 spacers to keep dock up higher from water and I guess she thought that was good enough, but I think they prefer a closed off area such as a nest box provides.
I don't know of any other species in our flyway that will nest off of the ground.
Rod, looks like Mergansers and Goldeneyes will magically place eggs in a WD box occasionally.

They seem to like something covering the nest even if it isn't exactly a cavity.

How does it work with wood ducks? Do the mom's find a nest site and the dad's drop by? Or is it the other way around where the dad's attract a mate to a nest he prepared? Or do the get to know each other and build a nest together?

Snipe,

Most of the islands in the ponds I see end up attracting Canadian Geese. They look like bullies to me, so I would rather avoid habitat for them.

However, I might try your idea in the creek and enhance a little island and set up a game camera to see who uses it. That will also show which predators are capable of raiding an island nest.


jpsdad,
I think I should add a couple of wood duck boxes just to see if I can entice any takers. Some game cameras pics of the mating and nest building process would be enlightening.


I did watch turkeys try a mating ritual yesterday. The gobbler kept displaying and the hens kept right on walking across our native grass searching for insects. He tried five times and never got more than the briefest glance. I hope his ego is not so diminished that he won't try again today!

Now if we can just learn what Hummingbird Feeders are for.

Duh Theo- so you can watch them run each other off so nobody gets to eat….. that’s why you have to put up more feeders

I did see a hummingbird at the farm yesterday.

There are zero blossoms on my trees and only a few, small ground cover blossoms in our native grass field.

What high-energy foods do hummingbirds have available to make it through the winter?

Sounds like I probably need to add some hummingbird feeders to hang off the back of the wood duck boxes!

Hi Rod,

I don’t know if there is a depth of water which by itself will keep raccoons out of a wood duck box. When I first started experimenting with boxes I would find a coon or coon sign in boxes mounted on 2” steel pipe where the coon had to swim open water for 400’ just to get to the boxes. My current best method is to use 2” steel pipe with a used disk blade with the center cut out as a predator guard around the pipe. I have a couple boxes mounted on solid 2.5” drill rod and didn’t want to attempt to drill the mounting hole with a cordless drill as the were already in use, I annually smear the pipe with a high moly pin and bushing grease which seems to work well too. Thanks.

Bryan

Thanks Bryan.

I was afraid the raccoons would be undeterred by any type of "moat" protecting the duck boxes!

Are your disk blades just smooth enough that the coons can't pull themselves on top of the disk to continue climbing the pole?

Hummingbird feeders draw a lot of wasps and other insects. However, coons absolutely appreciate me putting them out. No matter what I do coons and wasps love the sugar water.

So very true.

Here ya go... I cover this pretty well with nesting box design and predator guard guy that makes great ones. I'm at 16 or 17 of 18 wood duck houses being used. two of them are hooded mergansers - the rest are Wood Ducks. https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=543280

Hi Rod,

I usually take a plasma cutter and knock a rough 2.25” hole in the center of the disk blade if I’m using a 2” mounting pipe for the duck box. I then take and drill a .375” hole or similar hole in the mounting pipe where I want the disk blade to sit. I insert a 3” - 4” long bolt into the hole so the disk blade can’t slide down the pipe any further than the bolt. I think the disk blades I’m using are around 20” - 24” diameter but that isn’t really critical, a blade as small as 12” would likely work. Thanks.

Bryan

I've heard that putting Petroleum Jelly or similar products on the pole discourages coons. A mean person might even mix in a little Tabasco sauce to reinforce the lesson, but I'm sure nobody here is mean.

I frequently see hundreds of raccoon tracks at the edge of my creek where they have been eating crayfish and clams.

If I supplied them with some Tabasco, I am worried I would go down to the creek one evening and see huge steaming stainless steel pots while the raccoons were cooking their etouffee!

I'm intrigued by this wood duck thing.. I too was a hard core waterfowler. Today I find it more important to protect the reproduction cycle than kill.. part of growing up I guess. I have woodies every year (don't say it Rod..) and I never gave much thought to building boxes because we literally have no trees here other than windbreaks, but if they are going to build a nest under my dock I guess I don't need boxes. Still think it would be cool though.

The nesting box with a predator guard will help ensure that they pull off a successful hatch. Can't hurt!!!

When you were a hard core waterfowler, I assume you were living in an area with very few trees located near the edges of ponds, marshes, and creeks, yet you still saw a decent number of wood ducks.

That was kind of the reason for my original post. How did wood ducks maintain viable populations in areas where the only natural habitat is cottonwoods along the creeks? Do they have to co-exist with woodpeckers and take over their tree cavities after they are abandoned? Can the wood ducks defend ground nests against predators sufficiently to sustain the population?

I hoped I would get some informative answers, because we do have lots of people on PB that work hard to protect the reproduction cycle of lots of different species!

I put my wood duck houses on 2" steel pipe about five ft long, monted to a stump out in the water, I havent had any success at attracting ducks , although I have some that reproduce somewhere around the pond, there is no way a coon can climb a steel pipe is there? the boxes are about 6 to 7" above the water, 5' of pipe screwed down to a stump that sticks about 2 ft out of the water.

They can climb a steel pipe.

They can climb a steel pipe.X2

I have them mounted to submerged snags and to 4x4's for any land based nest you need to add a predator guard. I looked hard for a bit and this guy makes a fantastic product that can't be beat $ wise. I'm not getting anything back - his product works, lasts and is inexpensive.
$14 plus 6% Sales Tax: $14.84 each - He'll give a Military discount if you ask.

https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/MWDI/predator_guards.aspx

Stressless, thanks for the link.

Does the 26 gauge metal somewhat collapse when the land critters try to climb the pole?

(I think that would force them to perform even more difficult gymnastics compared to hauling themselves over a rigid disk.)

?? They can't "reach around" that cone. No way to "climb over". Stops them cold.

Of course you can always do a vertical envelopment. 🤣 an old paratrooper.