We spent the day at the project, working on the shed. At the end of the day, I made a pot of coffee and D'ski and I took a pond walk. Guess what we found cruising the pond.
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Yep, Hooded Mergansers. Oh yeah, and we're talking 4 males + 4 females. Of course, the birding side of us was excited. Quite frankly, neither of us had ever seen one, so 8 of them was really cool. Or was it? These big-headed show-offs are fish-eating machines....right?
We have 4 Wood Duck boxes open and ready for business. Hmmmm....4 HM couples. Do I sense a plan? From what I have read, these cute little buggers love WD boxes, particularly when they are on poles over the water...in a pond surrounded by deciduous woods. Bingo; LNP.
Here's the fish story. Spring 2007, we stocked 1300 RES fingerlings, 800 YP 4" - 6", and 60# of FH. We also added 250 papershell crayfish. We have a natural abundance of Bullfrogs, also. I saw the bigaz tadpoles cruising the shore last weekend.
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One part of me wants to go and cut down the nesting boxes...then...the other part of me reminds me that I was the one that brought the knife to a gun fight. Unless you guys tell me that I am heading for certain disaster, I'm gonna let it play out.
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edit; I just read the Audobon website. They say:
Estimates vary, but the current population of about 350,000 individuals makes the Hooded Merganser one of North America’s least numerous ducks.
I guess we should feel honored.
