Wood Duck Project

Canso

Canso

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Location
Lower Mainland/ Vancouver
My buddy Chris and I are in our 6th year putting up wood duck boxes around the Vancouver area. We put together a group of hunters that we've met at the marsh and at the trap club and get a great turnout every year for the initial clean out of old material and replacing fresh wood chips into our boxes every spring. Last year we had 22/50 boxes with ducks, most others had swallows. We take inside pictures with our cell phones.
We start in a public hunting marsh right after our spring goose season ends, this year march 11th. We also have access to some farms nearby and had 6/6 successful nests there last year so we added 4 more this spring. They went up April 2 and I checked the trail cameras we placed by the boxes yesterday. Early success!

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That's very cool!
What's your goal, trying to increase population? I'll keep an eye open for them when I'm down on the flats in October :p
 
My dad organized a group that had boxes all over the lower mainland. They also started a goose project back in '72 that was very successful!��
After dad passed I saw some of the pictures and data he had tucked away in his den. My buddy Chris and I decided to do this to honor his group "Pitt Waterfowl Association" by reviving the project on a smaller scale. We call our group Pitt Waterfowlers, we are a group of 15 waterfowl hunters who volunteer a few days each spring to get the boxes out and ready for nesting season.
Chris and I check the cameras every week and collect data from all boxes a few times until mid June.
It's a fun and rewarding way to put back into our sport.



cyclops666 said:
That's very cool!
What's your goal, trying to increase population? I'll keep an eye open for them when I'm down on the flats in October :p
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That's really cool. I'm a total newb to waterfowling, but if you guys need more hands I would love to come help you with this endeavor. It's always nice to see people doing stuff like this, especially so close to the big city.
 
I put out 10 boxes myself one winter on frozen beaver ponds and looked after them for a few seasons. I gave it up after a few years but it was fun while it lasted. I am surprised to hear about wood ducks that far west? I always thought they were primarily a bird found not much further west than the Ont/MB border?
 
Checked the boxes and cameras monday nite. 4 of 10 boxes have eggs and all cameras showed wood ducks exploring the boxes (some were on the boxes hours after we had set them out!).
Glad to hear the nice comments, I'll update this post weekly or more whenever we get out to the farm.
Enjoy!

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There's five hens in the above picture, 3 on top, one in the hole entrance and one in the water just peeking past the box. The box is over 6' out of the water.

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That is SO cool!

How close together can you put the boxes on a pond?

I have 15 acres of former swamp that was diked up to form a pond, here in front of my house, and I see Woodies here most springs, on my lawn.

I have a box up that I hacked out of a hollow tree that had been felled here, but only the flickers seem interested so far. It only went up late in spring last year, so I am not too surprised.

I would like to build a few more boxes and set them up. It isn't exactly project 42, but it sorta isn't the top of the to do list either.

Good work!

Cheers
Trev
 
Very cool!

This weekend was my very first time seeing wood ducks. Even better was that the pair landed in a maple tree in my backyard while I was sipping coffee and casually scanning the property for our usual bird friends.
 
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