We have a bachelor osprey this year. He is not good at building a nest. Word is that the menhaden count is down too.
In past years it has been great fun to watch the young ospreys land on our dock or boat etc as they learn how the fly. One year the eagle that nests nearby tried to raid the nest and the mother osprey chased the eagle flying upside down!
I’m surprised the mother duck doesn’t destroy the eggs, gets a job at an NGO that controls CO2 emission through population control, buys a cat and move to Brooklyn.
I think this is a right wing duck. Trying to procreate and leave more behind than they started with. Maybe even Catholic or Mormon. I do not know how many of the chicks will survive. The predators are cunning. My friend was fishing with his grandkids once and they were looking at the chicks swimming. A loon ate one. Another time, a big fish came up and grabbed one. Otters will take them as will birds of prey.
Excellent. I too live in Minny and we moved into a lake house in Roseville when I was a kid. I was surveying the carnage the Canadian geese left on our shore prior to cutting the grass when Wood duck chicks dropped right in front of me from our trees. Really cool.
I think the entire box is two feet. You fill the bottom up with cedar shavings. Here is the Duck's Unlimited way to build one at home but I bought mine. https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/build-a-wood-duck-box. Once they hatch they never return to the box. Funny thing about ducks is they are good to go when they hatch. They can survive without a mother. I have seen Golden Eye mama ducks abandon their clutch a few days after they hatch. They learn to fly when they are strong enough. We watch them practice up and down the lake. These chicks will have to get going. Winter hits for certain around Nov 1 so they need to be up and airborne going south by October. We dump all the stuff out and then refill it with fresh cedar shavings for next year. In the fall, often ducks will fly in and out and check them out before they migrate. In the spring they return and compete for nesting sites, box included. The solar powered camera we installed is around $270. It ties into our internet. This is the first year we have used it and I think it's pretty cool.
Great video, Jeff. We watched a merganser with six or seven very small chicks in Alaska very early one morning while taking a skiff ride. They were keeping very close to their mom until they all disappeared (swam) into a small crack in a rock. I did not know they jumped from the nest in one day. That explains why the chicks were so small; they must have jumped soon before we saw them. Thanks for posting that.
Thats why its Gods country!!!!!!
Just wonderful, Jeff!
We have a bachelor osprey this year. He is not good at building a nest. Word is that the menhaden count is down too.
In past years it has been great fun to watch the young ospreys land on our dock or boat etc as they learn how the fly. One year the eagle that nests nearby tried to raid the nest and the mother osprey chased the eagle flying upside down!
Enjoy the lake!
We had a pair of those a few years ago. Neat birds. We have eagles, and Cooper's Hawks.
Cooper's Hawks? Are they the ones with bronze heads?
Watching wildlife is great for the blood pressure.
I’m surprised the mother duck doesn’t destroy the eggs, gets a job at an NGO that controls CO2 emission through population control, buys a cat and move to Brooklyn.
I think this is a right wing duck. Trying to procreate and leave more behind than they started with. Maybe even Catholic or Mormon. I do not know how many of the chicks will survive. The predators are cunning. My friend was fishing with his grandkids once and they were looking at the chicks swimming. A loon ate one. Another time, a big fish came up and grabbed one. Otters will take them as will birds of prey.
That is awesome!
Don’t we need some legislation to make sure that jumping out of the box is safer, and that none of the chicks is left behind?
Perhaps an owl attorney or some bird like that can take up the case.
Excellent. I too live in Minny and we moved into a lake house in Roseville when I was a kid. I was surveying the carnage the Canadian geese left on our shore prior to cutting the grass when Wood duck chicks dropped right in front of me from our trees. Really cool.
Way cool! Thank you.
How deep is the box?
Do you clean it post chick arrival?
Does the mother and her chicks continue to live there post jump?
As a paratrooper in a past life, I greatly applaud those chicks being Airborne.
FFS, what a tough existence -- weasels, minks, big bass, otters, eagles, hawks, otters?
This is some very unique and unusual video. Bravo and well played.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
I think the entire box is two feet. You fill the bottom up with cedar shavings. Here is the Duck's Unlimited way to build one at home but I bought mine. https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/build-a-wood-duck-box. Once they hatch they never return to the box. Funny thing about ducks is they are good to go when they hatch. They can survive without a mother. I have seen Golden Eye mama ducks abandon their clutch a few days after they hatch. They learn to fly when they are strong enough. We watch them practice up and down the lake. These chicks will have to get going. Winter hits for certain around Nov 1 so they need to be up and airborne going south by October. We dump all the stuff out and then refill it with fresh cedar shavings for next year. In the fall, often ducks will fly in and out and check them out before they migrate. In the spring they return and compete for nesting sites, box included. The solar powered camera we installed is around $270. It ties into our internet. This is the first year we have used it and I think it's pretty cool.
It's very cool. You should post that camera publicly. Carter's Chicks.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Very cool!
Great video, Jeff. We watched a merganser with six or seven very small chicks in Alaska very early one morning while taking a skiff ride. They were keeping very close to their mom until they all disappeared (swam) into a small crack in a rock. I did not know they jumped from the nest in one day. That explains why the chicks were so small; they must have jumped soon before we saw them. Thanks for posting that.