A Wood Ducky Day

What a wonderful still sunny morning in Southern Minnesota. It has been our pleasure to watch pairs of Wood Ducks this spring. Oakwood has at least 6 pairs nesting on our small peninsula on the back bay of Fountain Lake.  The females are laying eggs so both sexes are hanging around in the morning before they take to the water. This morning a female flew to the box and hoovered looking inside.  Another female flew out of the box. This confirms that Wood Ducks do engage in "nest dumping".  This happens when there are not enough nests/boxes for the pairs.  I guess we will be building more houses.  Whatever happened to the Wood Duck houses that Tubbs had manufactured 30 years ago.