Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Wood duck camera house

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.