Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Wood duck camera house

Here is an update on the wood duck house with the camera in it.
Working very well! Here's a few pictures:









And here is the live feed from YouTube:
Perridise Duck box
https://youtu.be/mYC8cqQQGKc

The cable leading to the camera popped loose. I used electrical tape, which was a poor choice.
I'm going to open the box up in the next few days when she's out feeding, and fix it (zip tie through the side vent, I think)

First egg appeared 3-28-2020, and she started brooding (sittin on the eggs full time) 4-5-2020.
Hatch and jump out day should be around May 5th. They all jump out the same morning, typically between 7 and 9 a m.

Now I'm thinking about a "fish nest cam"... Hmm maybe. 🤔

Dr. Luke,
I'm so glad you are doing well in this Covid situation and I hope you have some time to relax and watch the wildlife (and stay healthy). You are so fortunate to have successful nesting and brooding right outside your window. I'm trying hard but failed again this year.

I have 2 very nice wood duck houses, very warm and soft wood shavings in it and no takers. Might as well give them to someone else who can be more successful... This will be the 2nd year of waiting in vain. I did see a wood duck couple last week Monday come in for a look around. They were high up in a big oak tree for a while. They did not land in or around the pond like they have done in years past. In years past they even would swim around, rest on shore and walk around a bit but not this year. We do have a mallard pair with a nest under a pine tree but the mallard pair were not around when the wood ducks stopped by.

I'm sure our dog may be part of the problem, do you have a dog and do the ducks mind? Our dog is kept from the pond edge by his electric fence underground but perhaps his presence and patrolling is unsettling? I also know with the kids home from school there is a lot more general traffic in the yard and my son's very loud and annoying gokart (minus a muffler because it goes faster and backfires more that way) going down the trail nearby was precisely poor timing for the poor wood ducks.

It is too late now. I may have to try to put a duck house deeper in the woods away from the pond to see if that gives them more privacy, or like you, I may have to put the pole right IN the pond. What keeps me from that is we like to ice skate as long as we can and the pole would be in the way. The ducks scout the pond in the fall I'm told and if I install the pole at ice out in the spring I'm not sure the duck house will be around long enough for them to accept it?

But you sharing pictures and the webcam especially is really appreciated!!

Thanks

CC-
I don't think the dog is an issue, but the go cart (and noise) definitely are. Woodies are very wary and leary. Once the hen picks a nest box and lays eggs, she's not likely to abandon them even if annoyed. I don't know if Northern Michigan's spring duck migration is the same time as Iowas. Our wood ducks appear within a week or less of ice out, and begin looking for nesting spots. Maybe you could try to limit activity and noise a bit during those precious few weeks?
Don't give up hope. Some hens have to try to nest a second time if the first time is disrupted. We had hatchlings in August 2 years ago.

COVID19 has been a challenge, for sure. Getting pretty tired of donning and doffing PPE. I look like "The Mandalorian Smurf" (our gowns are blue). 😉

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not sure, I suspect you are a bit ahead of us based on when the lone pair was sighted and how far your nesting progress was. But like you said, maybe there will be a straggler or maybe a 2nd chance rental on one of our houses.

I'm also wondering if the direction the hole faces makes a difference.

Someone suggested a submerged base and partial upright metal pole that could stay in place under the iceand water level and not interfere with skating. Then as soon as ice out I could use a boat to add the top pole and duck house. An idea for this fall.

Trying to keep everything quiet since we saw them last and who knows.

The momma mallard is staying on the nest but another mallard pair showed up to paddle around a little.

Saw our first eastern bluebird but no takers in the several shape and size bluebird/bird houses we have scattered around. I did find that this winter the mice found the bluebird houses and made nests. They were warm in their fluffy nest all winter but the 1" of nasty feces they deposited in the bottom of the bird houses was not enjoyable.

Any food sources that would attract wood ducks? An offering of acorns at the base of the tree

I hear Iowa is not on lockdown like MI?

I also was sitting here with your woodduck camera on youtube open in another tab. I was on the phone and all of a sudden I heard a train whistle very close by. Now I know we have no trains coming by our house.... took me a bit to figure out it was coming from your house

Actually, we have train tracks within a 1/2 mile, and the sound carries very well.

My understanding is wood ducks do feed on grain, but really love acorns. We have loads of burr oak on our place, so that is helpful in attracting them.

Iowa is basically shut down in every way possible, but no "shelter in place" order. Not sure if it would add much at this point. Other than a few nursing homes, we have not had much activity.

Had to tweak the camera cables, and position, as the hen had bumped them out of position. Zip tied into a better position, plus a little gorilla tape. I waited until she went out for her even stretch & feed.

That's pretty cool. How many eggs is there?

Very cool, Dr Luke!!

Best guess is 12. Maybe 14.

Dr. Luke, all day today we have a black screen on the live feed. IS the camera covered?

Software glitch. I think it's fixed? I'm using OBS Studio, and it's well beyond my computer skills.

wonderful, can see clearly again, thank you! I shared with the science teacher at our school and he was happy to share this with his students. Lots of web cams for raptors and eagles but very few if any for wood ducks. We do have a neat nest box cam for our peregrine falcons in Grand Rapids. It shows a high in the sky view! They choose to nest on a nest of rocks, OUCH!!

Grand Rapids Peregrine Nest Cam links

If you scroll down a bit you will see links for a ceiling view camera and a side view camera. The side view shows the city skyline too

Good stuff CC!

Flying back into the nest box this morning

Great shot! I'm loving watching remotely here. Thanks for hosting this.

How much snow is scheduled to hit your way? I have the same duck boxes and I wonder why they have so many air slots designed in them. It seems they would want solid sides and wooden sides to give a little more shelter from wind or cold??

I think we're going to be in the rain band, so maybe none. 🤞

I think adequate ventilation and keeping the hen cool is more important than the shelter aspect. Plus the vents are on the bottom edges of the corregation of the sides, which seems to keep things nice and dry. And under all that duck down, the heat really stays. The eggs were quite warm when I had the nest box bottom off fixing the camera cable.

Where did you get the box from?

DuckHut

HIghly recommend them!! Well built and come with adapter to attach to a pipe.

I hadn’t been checking the website lately due to extensive travel for work since January 1, but the camera set up Dr. Luke has is excellent. We had bought one at the last Pond Boss conference auction but have never gotten it put up. Seeing the results from Dr. Luke’s may prompt me to install it this coming winter. I have 8 current boxes up, in most years past they have all been active. I haven’t had much time to watch the boxes since I flew back into town last Sunday but Grant said he’s seen activity in at least a few. Last night the kids also pointed out a goose that has been sitting on eggs since at least April 11 when they noticed it. I had some field tiling done very close to her nest, I was somewhat surprised she hadn’t been scared off. I think incubation is about 29 days for Canadian geese.
I usually try to face the openings south or south east but I don’t ever recall seeing a direction recommendation on this in any reading I’ve done. If they are placed on land it is recommended they face the water. I had seen woodies earlier this year in one of our plots of Japanese millet, I watched them foraging for some time. In the fall I’ve shot several woodies stuffed full of acorns, I could feel the acorns in their necks when I picked them up. We often jump woodies in the dry woods during the fall (we have lots of oaks) and I always thought it would be fun to hunt them on land like upland birds!
CC, I think it might be a good idea to try a box deeper in the woods. If you had a group of standing dead timber near the water that would be an ideal location. I’ve read that a clear, unobstructed flight path to the box is a key.
I have 4 boxes dropped off from a friend who went to the Macatawa Bay Duck Hunters Association banquet this year and I’ll be putting these up sometime. I have several 20’ sticks of new 3” stainless steel tubing I’m going to use for poles, I think it is smooth enough to keep anything from climbing up (free from work!). When adding some boxes by me the next locations will be on land.
All the boxes I have are wood, I just replace them when they get rotten but most of the time they seem to last around 10 years here. The plastic ones have all the slots for ventilation, the first models roasted several hens during testing. I think I had read after they found some dead hens they put a thermometer in one and recorded 130F. Thanks.

Bryan

Glad you are enjoying the box cam Bryan! I spend way too much time "checking in" on the nest. Sure beats watching the news though.

I personally don't think the direction the box opening faces is critical. Mine are all set to face my house, for selfish reasons. I would probably avoid facing it in a direction where your worst storms come from, unless the box is shielded by it's location. The camera box actually faces northwest, which is a bad idea for my area. BUT, it's shielded by it's corner location in my pond.

I would recommend a predator guard for any shore boxes, regardless of pole size. They're pretty easy to make, or can be purchased. The company that makes the house with the camera sells predator guards too.

I have 3 plastic houses and 3 wooden houses up. All get used. My cedar house is weathering best, of the wood ones. Rest are pine scrap. Plastic ones seem to be unphased by the weather, so far.

I've enjoyed this camera box so much, I think I'll try to add more houses next year. They'll have to be Wi-Fi, but those cameras are available, with a solar pack. If I put a Wi-Fi range extender antenna on the roof of my house, I think it's possible.

6:22pm on Friday night (IA time) and the nest is empty. Momma must be hungry. Really awesome to see this and watch it. I also am reminded (from my trips to IA so many times) how windy it is by you. You hear wind noise all the time. We are fortunate in W MI to have lots of trees and much less wind.

My boxes are facing East as winds almost always from the west. They both look at the pond, one is tipped SE. One is on a pole on the edge of the pond and perhaps a little more in the visible/traffic area, less trees around it. The other is up in a tree about 15' up and I have wrapped the tree for about 30" below the box with stovepipe as a predator guard. We only saw one pair of wood ducks briefly for one day and they were gone.

Further into the woods to the west there is lots of dead and live standing trees with lots of dead fall, leaves, Oaks, acorns etc. Lots of natural holes from Flickers and Pileated woodpeckers. I'll probably move the one on the pole back further in the woods and see what happens. I'll keep in mind the advice to see what the line of flight is from the pond.

Good to see you post Bryan, we all would love to hear more about how your pond caters to the waterfowl. You must have a generous boss to be giving out stainless steel 3" pipe in 20' sections, if you had to buy those would they be like $100 a stick? Glad to see you put them to good use!

Anybody else notice wood ducks around fish feeders? They seem to flock to them at my place sometimes.

Yep, they go right to the feeders but I was not sure if they were eating the feed or the small fish or both.

It seems like they have timed when my feeder is programmed to feed. They are waiting every morning, I think the wood ducks get more feed than the fish do.

I saw this going on the other morning. Another hen got in the nest box, and was trying to drive the sitting hen out. No luck with that, but interesting to see.

I have noticed them at my TH Hideaway feeder along with mallards, geese, turkeys,etc. The geese and mallards seem to be the most skilled being around at the morning and evening feeding times.

Dr. Luke, I did some testing this winter with the SS pipe and a feeder bird feeder on it. Many squirrels, raccoons, and opossums tried to climb it but were unsuccessful. I do have some 20” used disk blades from a friend of mine that I can use for a predator guard if needed. The pipe came from a prior project and had been sitting around for a couple years, it was going to get scrapped so I grabbed some (with permission of course).

I did find a goose nest today that didn’t make it, I was surprised how far along the chicks in the eggs were. Also found a pile of turtle shells that weren’t there a week or two back. Thanks.

Bryan

Very cool Dr. Luke I have been following and it prompted me to build one to try. We may have gotten it out a little too late for this year. My helper and I finished it and installed on March 20th. We did have 2 pair visit our pond over the weekend. They come on occasion but I was hopeful however I assume now they have already nested.

C68, don't give up hope. You may catch a late nester, or a hen that failed to get a hatch off the first go round. Plus, you may get a screech owl to use the box too. They can be seen perching in the door of the box, usually early in the morning for me.


Screech owl looking up at Mr & Mrs Duck

excellent. We will keep watching. I am not sure why my pictures are not showing up? I need to dig into that.
Thanks and that is also a cool picture.
Dave

Love it. We have 4 or 5 pairs this year and they are presently using the hatch boxes I put in our adjoining swamp next to the pond.
Last year, we had 3 hens that had 18 total between them. We are hoping for a repeat performance this year. I just hope the eagle that has been showing up does not develop a taste for them. Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Are we getting close to jump day, Dr. Luke?

Very close now! Any day actually, but within my family, our friendly game of "hatchling bingo" has me down for the 7th. 😁

Duckling alert! Just saw first hatchling!

Depending on how fast the whole clutch hatches, tomorrow might be jump out day

Thanks for the update this is exciting. I haven't seen the hatchling on the web cam yet. See if you can get video from the outside to document the jumping, possible to get a live stream of that or if not post video when you can!

My kids' science teacher was surprised when he noticed a hen and 8 ducklings in the shallow swamp behind his house. He had put a wood duck house out in the swamp a few years ago but didn't know that it was being used this year! Must be that they hatched a day or so sooner than your brood. Hoping for a safe jump day and that the ducklings grow

How long do they stay on the pond before leaving?

I have a video camera setup and waiting for jump out, and will upload the footage.

We do see the hen & chick "flotillas" cruising around the pond edges, but they are few and far between. Wood ducks are super secretive. We have seen them mature all the way to fledglings but not always.

YAY!! lots of ducklings on the web cam today. Looks like they all hatched overnight. So exciting!

So today was the day! We had 11 ducklings jump out between 1 and 1:15 pm. That's not typical (usually in the morning), but when the hen stuck her head out to "scout" around 9:15 am, she didn't call them out. Something must not have felt right, and I defer to a mother's intuition on that. I'll post a few still shots, but am working on the video right now. I'll put it up as soon as I can..finish learning how. 😏

Here's a shot of the ducklings in the box, waiting to be called out.

I already cleaned out and rebedded the box. I'm hoping for a second tenant, even if it's a screech owl.

Contents of the nest, in a plastic white tub:

Egg remnants. The hen actually ATE most of the shells:

Funky egg:

So here is the jump out video..finally! Full disclosure, I asked my son to do it and he finally helped me out.
https://youtu.be/WXJdnqOLBzA

AND...I have another tenant! I was happy to discover that another hen took up residence in the box and is brooding now. I estimate a first week of July jump out.
https://youtu.be/tviIGQoy63E

Doc,

Nice work. We have nesters at our farm. and now that I will be getting an internet connection soon, I may be able to add cameras to the mix. Great work, very inspirational.

Wow.....great work!

Thanks again for posting these updates. The split screen video of the jump process is awesome, thanks to you and your son for spending time making that! Super happy to be able to watch a second hen go through the process. It amazes me as mostly unsuccessful parent that those little ducklings take a leap (of faith...) hit the water and immediately know to paddle faithfully around right behind mom. What makes our teenagers head off in the opposite direction straight towards danger?

Hello Dr. Luke!
Are you hoping to have a Duck Box webcam set up again? I see last year you posted in April. Do the Wood Ducks come in March or April by you?
We had very nice sun today but cold temps tonight. I still have about 6" of ice on the pond but hope to try to mount a duck box a few feet out in the pond this spring to see if I can attract a wood duck. My tree mounted boxes near the pond have been empty the last years.

CC, that's a great idea, I can walk in my pond out to about 6' water depth now, so putting up a pipe to mount a nesting box on would be easy.

CC-
I definitely will have a box cam going again. As with all northern ponds this winter, we have a lot of ice. I typically get the first ducks within a week or less of ice off. That averages March 5th for my pond. My latest ice out in the past 6 years has been March 25th. I did turn on my shallow diffuser on February 20th. We had 14" of ice with 12" of snow on it, and it had been a dark cap like that for 7 weeks, so I was getting nervous about low DO (diffused oxygen) levels.
So, as soon as ice out, I will do a quick camera check and then set up the web feed again. I did catch a screech owl peeking out of another box yesterday, so here's a picture of my latest "Air D&B" (duck & bird) tenant.

I look forward to this every year!

Thanks Dr.Luke and thanks for sharing the owl picture. I had hoped something (owl or other bird?) would use my empty boxes for the last 2 years but no luck. I will donate one of my deck boxes to my dad who has a swamp nearby and maybe they will go to his more sheltered/private location.

I hope to try a mount in the water but probably our busy family activities and dog have something to do with it too.

What diameter pipe is this set up for again and where do I find the pipe? Would PVC work? I'm not worried about holding the weight but just want critters to not climb it. I could do a rerod or small metal stake into the pond bottom, slip the 2" or whatever inch PVC over it? Could even keep the mount in the pond during ice season and slip the post over it once ice out and i could find the mount under the water again?

I can't believe after record water levels on the great lakes and lots of erosions on the dunes that we are so far down on our groundwater table. I hear the water levels in the lakes have dropped quite a bit and my pond is about 3' down from peak and was already down back in January before the snow fell. We had a dry fall and the last few weeks a beautiful but dry early spring.

All my wood duck boxes were checked out this year and new shavings put in. I probably should have replaced one but the day I worked on them it was snowing and blowing hard and I didn’t feel like messing with it. I think I’ll add a couple more next year. Unfortunately I didn’t get around to installing my camera set up either. I spent some time watching birds last night, there were a couple dozen geese, same amount of mallards, some mergansers and buffleheads. No woodies seen yet. Thanks.

Bryan

Great to see you post Bryan! Good to hear about your birds too.
My water is so low that I was out in the shallows today in knee boots finding some 'lost' pallets that had silted in. I think I'll move them in and set them up on blocks. I also had some more broken concrete blocks from my son's maple syrup makeshift burner left over from last spring and I arranged that in rows in front of the big inflow pipe that brings storm water in during big rain events. I made passages ways for fast water to move through but also some places for crayfish to hide out during those Ride the Rapids events. Now to find some native crayfish in the creeks nearby.

This morning we had about 2' of open water all the way around the pond. By 5pm about 1/3 of the ice is gone and melting fast. We will have warm temps all night and a little rain tomorrow so we'll likely have ice out on 3-11 or 3-12 this year.

I seen a couple of woodies Sunday on my pond, they have been on the pond for a couple of years and had a set hatch out two yrs ago when the pond was new, I put out 4 nestboxes last yr but did not have any tkersand also never seen any young that were hatched otherwise on the pond, it should be a perfect scenario for woodies, some standing timber in the shallower point of the lake and then lots of open water. maybe better luck this yr.

So we went ice free yesterday...and saw 5 pairs of woodies today! Let the box picking begin..

Was able to spend 30 minutes or so tonight by the pond right at dusk, did get two muskrats with the .17 Ackley Bee. Some woodies are back, I saw 90 - 100 come in tonight. Might have seen a pair of golden eyes added to the previous list? Thanks.

Bryan

You got it Scott! The muskrats here continue to take a beating, I haven’t kept an exact count but around 25 have been dispatched in the last two weeks. The .17 Mach IV has also gotten a bit of action on them along with a Remington 1100 .410 for the close in work. Ducks are back in droves too, lots of them to watch. Have a good weekend.

Bryan

This is great, I'm getting an education about shells too by enjoying this woodduck thread. I never knew there was so much complexity/variety around '22' guns and their shells!

Look at all the names and shapes!

I haven't heard of most of those, I have a .17 HMR with a suppressor that is super sweet on some long range varmints,, love that gun.

There is a .17-.223 wildcat, then google the .17 incinerator and the .17 incinerator improved.

That's not all, you can go smaller than that. Here is a partial list.

.10 Eichelberger LR
.12 Eichelberger LR
.14 Eichelberger LR - original Eichelberger load
.14 Eichelberger LR
.17 Eichelberger LR
.20 Eichelberger LR
.12 Eichelberger Magnum
.14 Eichelberger Magnum
.17 Eichelberger Magnum
.20 Eichelberger Magnum
.14 Eisenburgh
.14 Eisenburgh Magnum
.14 Kopp Short Case
.14 Kopp Long Case
.14 Hornet
.14-.22 OTTR
.17 Myra Minor Mite
.17 Myra Vixen
.19 BN Short
.19 Wildcat

I'm fortunate to own a couple of Mr. Eichelberger's classic literature pieces. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't include some information on the wonderful .19's, http://www.jamescalhoon.com/ Thanks.

Bryan

Talk about finger pinchers!! Nice!!!!!!!

So here is the link to this years stream in the duck box: https://youtu.be/hn68jOc5N54

A hen started laying eggs ~ 4-3-21. And there has been a second hen sneaking in and adding her egg every day also. From what I could see this morning, 9 eggs are in the nest so far. Most action is in the mornings, from sunrise to 10 a.m. I'd expect full time brooding (nest sitting) starting next week.

Thanks! I saw one egg on the nest, look forward to observing the whole process.

I had woodies for the first time last year, they are back this year. Six at last count. I have a number of dead trees that they like.

Dang Scott, never heard of those calibers

Hi Dr. Luke, just checked the YouTube link for the camera box, says it has been removed? Anyways we were heading out to church this morning and went out to the north past the pond. Saw two woodies hanging out on a tree branch, they flew a little ways and landed on another. I’ve seen them on this same branch before, I need to investigate if there is a nesting hole nearby. Also when doing my annual brush pile burn last week I noticed some debris falling out of a hole in a tree. Further watching showed a pileated woodpecker cleaning out the cavity. I’ll be keeping an eye on this as well. Thanks.

Bryan

Glad to see the pilated pecker woods making a strong comeback around here

Please fix the youtube link when you can!

Likewise, very glad to see a few pileated woodpeckers around our parts too. Wonderful to see those amazing creatures.

Can the good Dr. fix the youtube stream?

Dr. Luke was there a hatch of the wood duck eggs yet?

I'm following this also! Great stuff.

So the stream has been going, but the link changes because I've stopping the stream at night so my son can have extra bandwidth to work with for his job. If you follow the old link to my YouTube page, the stream is still there.
As far as the nest goes, three hens were laying in the box and so it became a 'dump nest'. This means there were too many eggs to brood. We counted, and there were 48 eggs. We took out all but 18, in case one hen would take the clutch and brood it. But none did. I've been waiting for the past week to be sure, but this weekend I'm going to reset the box. We did keep 12 eggs from the first 48 and have them in an incubator my neice had used for a school science project. They've been incubating for 2 weeks so far. I candled them yesterday, and all are developing. It is near impossible to raise wood duck chicks, so we plan to release the hatchlings onto the pond when they hatch. With a little luck another hen will adopt them with her own hatch.

Learning again. Didn't know what candling was but now I do! Sounds like the newer high powered LED flashlights have replaced the old candle light method?
I also learned that you have to turn your duck eggs 180 degrees 4-5 times a day or the embryo will not form properly?? Someone has to stay home and turn the eggs in the incubator? Amazing!

Thanks for the update and the work to try to keep more wood ducks in the wild.

Sadly no wood ducks showed up this morning!

also FYI, I went back to the old link and it is not working. Maybe it is set to private or something? Share the link again please.

That is the link to my channel. When the stream is live, it's at the top left.

Wood duck box stream channel

Thanks Dr. Luke! SO therapeutic to just hear background nature sounds and watch those eggs relax in the duck hut.
I saw the wood duck pair on the ground early this morning for a little stroll but they are not interested in my duck hut. Maybe I need to lure them in next year with a nice big pile of acorns on top of the duck house? What is their weakness?

There are inexpensive incubators that automatically turn the eggs. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...Er6LD8AIVtDizAB1DkAsiEAQYBiABEgIXZ_D_BwE

esshup,
We have used those incubators before but you get a much better hatch rate with the GQF Sportsman incubator. It’s much more expensive but we have hatched chickens, pheasants, bobwhite quail, and Hungarian partridge with ours. If anyone decides to go this route I would absolutely recommend the GQF brooders as well. Each brooder holds approximately 100 quail to 6-7 weeks of age. It takes the majority of the work out of the process. I believe 2 years ago we ended up releasing about 1500 quail, 75 ringnecks, and 50 Hungarian partridge. Hope this helps someone.

Heppy, thanks!!!

I hatched some quail in mine and couldn't believe how small they were - they squirted through the wire that I had used to make a cage that I had raised pheasants in the previous year.

The incubator I've been using turns the eggs every few hours automatically.

I wish it was easier to raise wood duck chicks than my research suggests. Anyone have any experience to share? I'd love to be able to get them bigger than hatchling size before setting them loose. Natural survival rates are only around 30% anyway.

Without doing research I heard that they need to drop to kick start their digestive system like they were falling out of the nest box.

I'm sure duck experts can help me? Sadly the wood ducks didn't decide to hang around but I do have a nesting mallard pair. Well, not a pair, a three some??

2 questions.

1. Every day 2 males paddle around the pond and hang out waiting for the lady to arrive. Presumably she is nearby in the woods sitting on a nest. Is it common to have 2 fathers in the duck world? They both seem equally dedicated to the task at hand. One of them likes to stand on top of the wood duck hut which from a distance always gets my hopes up that a Wood Duck may be settling in only to zoom in with my zoom camera lens from the house and see the green head...

2. Lately the female and male are hanging out during the day time hours too. Does that means the eggs failed and mom some how knows that? Maybe racoons cleaned out the nest?

I'm giving up on Woodies so I may install one of those mallard nesting tubes over the water next spring so the animals can't raid the nest every year. The last 3-4 years the mallards did their nesting thing but we never saw a baby mallard yet.

My $$ is on the coons. The nesting tube is a good idea.

So I wanted to give a quick update on the camera house. It is in fact streaming. I went about 3 weeks with it down, due to several weeks of heavy rain leading to a leak into the ethernet line splice. I had to run 100' of ethernet and splice it to another 50' to reach the house. I guess those 'water proof' splices aren't as dry as I'd hoped. Anyway, had to wait for it to dry out enough to dig up the splice and line and retrench it in. I had already reset the box (i.e. took out all the eggs and put in new wood chips) a couple weeks before. Lo and behold, when I restarted the camera a new hen was already brooding! We think on about 20 eggs! Not really sure on the hatch out date, but maybe in the next week or so. The stream goes down occasionally, so if you go to my YouTube channel, the live stream link is shown there, even if it goes down and then I put it back up.

Regarding the first batch of eggs, we did get some to hatch out:


You can see the 'egg tooth' on the end of the beak of this one chick

So we attempted to release them into the marshy edges of the pond as a group, but think most didn't survive. Even with a hen helping them, reported wood duck chick survival rates are a dismal 30%. BUT..one chick walked out of the weeds and climbed onto my wife's foot a few days later. So we took it back into the house and have been rearing it ever since. Nickname is "Pip" (which is the sound he or she makes frequently).
It has taken to following my wife around the pond when she swims:




We are hoping to release Pip with the next hatch we see jump out, so they'll be 'adopted' by the hen. I'll keep you posted.