Wood Duck Hotel

The rewards of sitting silently in the woods during springtime watching mama and papa wood duck effortlessly fly through the branches of the forest claiming their breeding spot in the house we put up makes the late winter activity of cleaning the houses worth the effort.    You might be asking, why would we bother to trudge through the snow with sled in tow heaped with a ladder and wood shavings to clean out a bird house and more importantly how did I ever get involved in doing such a thing.  As crazy as this sounds, there are a few good reasons for making the annual trek. 

Let’s step back in time a bit to see how I became involved in this project to begin with which will shed a little light on why this has become such an interesting endeavor every year.  My dad and I belong to a local conservation club and one of their projects a number of years back was building wood duck houses to provided habitat to aid in the continued recovery of the wood duck population.  People were able to take the completed houses and place them in typical wood duck habitat (which is woodlands where ponds form in the springtime).  We had that exact scenario in our woods, so my dad took my kids, who were little at the time, for a hike to find the perfect spot for a house.  They found several and so the project began.

  They placed the houses on metal poles in areas that fill with water in the springtime.  Placing them on metal poles instead of attaching them directly to a tree, reduces the risk of other critters such as raccoons ravaging the nests.

So, every winter since then, we load up our long sled and head out to the woods to clean each house.  The anticipation of finding out if the house produced a hatch makes the trek a little less daunting.  By doing this, we are able to see if and how many ducklings hatched.  

So just recently on a bright sunny winter day, my dad, daughter and I loaded up and headed out to check our houses.  We had very good success rates; every house we checked had a successful hatch!  It is always intriguing to see how many shells are in the house.  Sometimes we are even surprised by a resident screech owl in the nest when we open it or owl pellets.  Since the houses are only used by the wood ducks in the spring, winter affords owls a safe and cozy place to be in the confines of the house.  Watching the cycle of life and nature in its purest form is something wonderful.

Besides spending time together, we also got to enjoy all that nature had to offer.  Not only were we out there taking stock of last season’s hatch, cleaning out the nest, and preparing it for the spring season with fresh shaving, but we are able to enjoy the woods during the winter as well.  Deciduous bushes hanging full of red berries waiting for the hungry bird is in vast contrast to the white and brown landscape which begged me to take a picture.  Looking for tracks in the snow to see what other critters have come before us in the silence of the snow, provided a glimpse into who traveled before us.  It filled our senses with wonder besides the pure pleasure of just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company while making memories that will last a lifetime.

This is an activity that doesn’t require much time to complete but can provide weeks of enjoyment.  If you are interested in making yourself a duck house, you can put one together within a few hours.   Follow this link to find directions on how to construct a house of your own. https://www.audubon.org/news/how-build-wood-duck-nest-box

Happy Duck Housing!