triplecurler
Mergie Marauder
Posts: 465
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:46 am
Location: What the $&/@ is it to you any ways?

Wood duck boxes!

Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:27 pm

Are wood duck boxes really a feel good gesture or do they provide enough habitat to increase the wood duck population? I want scientific data to back if I should put out my 5 wood duck houses or not.

I personally think it's a feel good gesture and I'll at least put one in my yard so that I can watch them. I think to many people don't do it correctly and may give the ducks a false sense of security causing more to die from predators then would in the wild. But hey I open...let me know if by putting out my wood duck boxes I can kill more ducks, otherwise I don't give a damn.
Ask Al how to successfully nest wood ducks, see you next season.

tornadochaser
Mergie Marauder
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:51 pm

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:19 pm

Wood duck boxes raise a shat ton of starlings.

Quack
Mergie Marauder
Posts: 1392
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:44 pm

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:25 pm

If you manage them well they produce wood ducks with much higher success than natural cavities. If you don't, give them to fowler and he will

User avatar
h2ofwlr
The One And Only
Posts: 4781
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:02 pm
Location: The NSA knows where

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:03 pm

triplecurler is in italics and " marks
"Are wood duck boxes really a feel good gesture or do they provide enough habitat to increase the wood duck population? I want scientific data to back if I should put out my 5 wood duck houses or not." It is scientifically acknowledged that the advent of wood duck boxes is one of the main reasons Wood ducks made a comback these last 50+ years. the other is the reestablishing of mature trees again.

" I'll at least put one in my yard so that I can watch them". It's always fun to watch them.

"I think to many people don't do it correctly" No doubt about that. Likley more like 90+% do not do it right.

"Let me know if by putting out my wood duck boxes I can kill more ducks, otherwise I don't give a damn." Put the predator guardbelow the boxes if you want to raise ducks. Simply put there is a 80% predation of nests in the wild for wood ducks. Now if you use the guard there is 100% prevention from mamalian predators and a 80% success. (hard to stop avian predation ~ 20%). So you can put up 5 and hve 1 sucessful nest. or put up 5 with guard sna get 80% (4 out of 5) successful nests. The other part is get the box off the trees ~ the damned squirells take over the box not to mention the the 'coons, mink and such. Get the post at least 30' away from overhanging branches so the squirells can not jump to the box. But yet have the box in the immediate vacinity of mature trees as that is what they like to hang around in. Also for the best % of use, spread them out. 200 yds a part anyways. Forget the high density of boxes like some did years ago. They just did not result in good nests.- way too much dump nests because of the over crowding.

So in a nutshell, if a person is not willing to use a cone shaped predator guard under the box and mounted on a post, it is a break even affiar at best. So then why bother?

More info can be gleaned from the Wood Duck Society web page. www.woodducksociety.com
.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.

gimpfinger
Mergie Marauder
Posts: 2508
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:29 pm
Location: Up in yo guts

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Tue Nov 18, 2014 12:00 am

They also make good falcon nests. Those little sparrow hawk ones love wood duck boxes.

your mom...
Hate hate hate hate hate hate

User avatar
h2ofwlr
The One And Only
Posts: 4781
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:02 pm
Location: The NSA knows where

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:29 am

Yes indeed if they are in an open area, the avian predators like to use then as a perch to survey the area. Again why the boxes should not be in an open field area, but rather close proximity to mature trees. I never have had a hawk in a box yet. But over the years I have had a couple of small Owls though.
.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.

gimpfinger
Mergie Marauder
Posts: 2508
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:29 pm
Location: Up in yo guts

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Tue Nov 18, 2014 11:56 am

Nope on the tree line next to a pond. Tapped on more than one box only to have a falcon come out of it.

Seen a few screech owls nesting in them too.

your mom...
Hate hate hate hate hate hate

User avatar
h2ofwlr
The One And Only
Posts: 4781
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:02 pm
Location: The NSA knows where

Re: Wood duck boxes!

Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:18 pm

What can I say? Other birds are opportunistic. Stuff happens.

But I will reinforce my comment about boxes out in the open - the birds of prey love sitting on top of them, especially if the tops are over 7' tall. They love 10' tall boxes. Been there, done that, lets not do that again type of thing from my past. So just trying to have others not make the same mistake that I did.
.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.

Return to “Conservation, Habitat & Politics”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest