February 2021
Wednesday, Feb 3 Early morning walk at Ward's Pond, all frozen over. Noticed a new wood duck nesting box, replacing the old, weathered, grey one on the other side of the pond by the little marsh. One spring, walking there, I laughed at seeing a pair of wood ducks perched on top of the old box, looking for all the world like they had just been to a realtor's open house and were discussing the pros and cons of the box for their eggs. Wood ducks like to nest over or near water as their ducklings are precocious, leaping out of the nest a day after hatching, stubby little wings frantically held out to slow their descent. The PBS show Nature has an amusing video clip of a wood duckling's leap here. The Cornell All About Birds website notes that female wood ducks engage in "egg-dumping", laying eggs in another pairs' nest box to be raised by the other female. Unusually large clutches of nearly 30 eggs have been found in some nest boxes, about triple the aver...