The Wily Wood Ducks or My Continuing Saga to Find an Active Nest

There are Wood Ducks living in our swamp.  I'm not certain, but I think there are 3 pairs this year.  We see them when they arrive back from their migration from the southeastern United States, usually around the middle of March.  I have our first sightings of the year listed as early as March 7th to the latest, April 2nd.

We hear their calls and cries.  They sure do produce some interesting sounds.  You can listen to them on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website by clicking here.   Or if you want to imitate them yourself, here is how Sibley spells them in his field guide.  ooEEK ooEEK.... jeweeep or sweeooooo, kip kip kip!

The males are quite handsome with their colorful plumage, while the females are more drab, but still beautiful, I think.  The easiest identifing mark of the female is her white eye ring, though they do also have a beautiful (if usually hidden) splash of color on their sides.

This female that I photographed last year must have had babies somewhere nearby. She knew I was watching from the bank and was doing her best to distract me from her babies by putting on a show of flapping around like she had a broken wing.  

Which brings me to the story I wanted to tell you about the continuing saga of my search for an active Wood Duck nesting cavity.

A number of years ago, I was heading to a watercolor class to which I was supposed to bring my own project to paint.  I had been busy and not picked anything out.  I mentioned it to my daughter and she came to me with a picture and said "Here, paint this." It was a page from her daily calendar-- of a baby Wood Duck, just getting ready to jump from the nest.  I probably would not have ever tried painting this without her suggesting it, but once I did, it really gave me more of an interest in these birds and their unique habits.

Wood Ducks nest in cavities... in holes in trees-- sometimes old Pileated Woodpecker holes, or sometimes in man-made boxes provided for them.  My field guide to nests says they can be anywhere from 3 to 60 feet above the ground!  Shortly after they hatch, the babies jump from the cavity and make their way to water (if they aren't already over it) being called along by their mother.  Cornells's webpage about them says the babies jump up to 290' without injury!

In my wanderings, I've been keeping an eye out for their nests.  I missed the one in the next photo until after it was too late.  It was right behind our dock, and I guess I was always looking out over the swamp instead of behind me!

I really missed this next one...since I didn't see it until the tree had fallen over!

One day I was walking my usual path thru the woods when I saw a large bird fly thru the trees.  I guessed it was a Pileated Woodpecker from its size and the location.  However, when I found it in my binoculars after it landed in another tree, I was surprised to see it was a male Wood Duck!  

So I immediately started looking around the area for a nest!  Sure enough, I found this.

Here's a closer look.

I started checking the area and the nest often, but I never saw another Wood Duck.  Of course that doesn't mean they weren't there!  Within a week it was hard to see the nest at all because of the leaves on the trees.  I kind of thought it was rather far away from the water but then I read that they can nest up to 1.2 miles away from it!

In this next photo (taken from a kayak), that nest is in the woods all the way in the top of the picture.

 On Saturday, my husband saw something that makes me think that nest was a Wood Duck's.  He saw a female Wood Duck in our lawn!  She did the "look at me, I've got a broken wing act" which made him look for babies!  Sure enough, he saw five tiny fluffy baby Wood Ducks huddled together nearby.  The mother Wood Duck flew into our little woods.  I was down at the mailbox, but my husband quickly came to get me and we looked for them again together.  They were already hidden away and we didn't see them.  I watched from a distance for awhile and didn't see the female either.

However, Sunday morning while we were getting ready to go to church, my husband looked out our window at the swamp and said, "I think there's a duck over there sitting on a log."  Just as I grabbed the binoculars and found her in them, she jumped off the log into the water, then one after the other five little babies jumped off and followed her!  It all happened so fast I wasn't able to get any photos.  But I think that means the mother and five babies who where in our yard made it safely over to the water.  At least, I hope it was them!

Seems like it would be a lot easier for them to use the boxes my brother made which are right in the swamp.  But they know best, I guess.

 I'm just happy when I see the mothers and their babies - this photo was taken Sunday afternoon.  I think it must be another mother because the babies seem quite a bit bigger (and there are only four, and I'm hoping the other mother still has five).  

Here's another photo from a previous year of a mother with two little ones.

They are beautiful and amazing birds that God gave just the right habits and lifestyles to live in the woods and swamps here, and I'm thankful He did... even if I still haven't found an active nest!

Update:  For those of you who might not see this in the Comments, here is a link to a really neat video of a baby Wood Duck leaving the nest!  (Thank you to Laura!)