Thirteen enthusiastic Upper Sangamon River Conservancy volunteers gathered on Sunday afternoon, February 8th to assemble 20 wood duck nest boxes. The volunteers, who included kids through seniors, enjoyed the mild temperatures and the opportunity to conduct the nest box assembly outdoors. USRC nest box building, traditionally occurring in January or February, ordinarily takes place in a heated garage.
The nest boxes are designed with a deep cavity to prevent raccoons and other predators from reaching eggs or chicks that might be inside. The nesting boxes are equipped with an inside screen to allow chicks the able to climb out when they are ready to fledge at just one day old. The boxes also have a maintenance door on the side for annual cleaning.
Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) experienced dangerously low declines in population in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the result of unregulated market hunting and drastic reductions in habitat. They were hunted for their meat as well as for their plumage, as the feathers were popular in women’s hats in Europe.
An executive order from President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and later approval of the Federal Migratory Bird Act of 1916 provided complete protection until 1941 for wood ducks. In 1937 the U.S. Biological Survey, today’s U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, erected 486 nesting boxes. These wood nest boxes were believed to have been designed by Gig Gigstead and Milford Smith at the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge in central Illinois.
Wood ducks readily take to these man-made nests, and if properly built and installed, they provide shelter and protection from predators. In places where nest cavities are the limiting factor in wood duck populations, nest boxes can provide for localized increases in populations.
Due to earlier conservation efforts wood duck populations have significantly rebounded. As a result wood ducks are one of the most popularly hunted ducks after the mallard.
Wood duck chicks are born precocial, meaning they are mobile, downy and can find their own food. At just one day old they plunge from their nest site sometimes from great heights with encouragement from their mother who calls them from the ground below. After the plunge they will never again return to their nest. The mother wood duck will lead the chicks to water where they must avoid snapping turtles, minks, snakes, certain birds, and other predators until they are able to fly in about 60 or 70 days. The mother wood duck provides little for her chicks during this time except to be near to create a distraction should predators approach.
Wood ducks are strikingly ornate, particularly the male, and is the only duck with claws under its webbed feet. The claws allow the wood duck to climb trees and more easily access tree cavities (or manufactured nest boxes). USRC volunteers are proud to play a part in the tradition of providing nest boxes for the conservation of this unique and majestic duck.
