triplecurler is in
italics and " marks
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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
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God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.