The wood duck began to disappear in the early 1900s due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Draining of swamps alongside massive logging operations hit the wood ducks hard. Their nesting sites were in hollow cavities in old, mature trees, which were being removed at a rapid pace by the logging industry.
Wood ducks require cavities measuring 8 to 10 inches in diameter with a depth of 10 to 24 inches. The important feature was the entry hole, an oval measuring approximately three-by-four-inches to allow entry while excluding predators. These cavities were provided by the decay of dead limbs of big old trees that had fallen, and where the weather had etched them out. Wood ducks also used the old cavities that pileated woodpeckers had made for their nesting.
Waterfowl hunting regulations were developed to prevent the over-harvesting of wood ducks, and that made a difference. However, the development of artificial wooden nesting boxes in the late 1930s, to help replace the loss of natural tree cavities, was the real turning point. These nesting boxes were often placed on trees or poles in wetlands, with wraparound guards below the boxes to prevent predators from getting to them. These boxes became a big part of bringing this beautiful duck back from near extinction.
Mallard ducks were also having nesting problems because of swamp draining and the destruction of grasslands for farming (mallards often nested on the ground).
In recent years, a nesting tube structure — consisting of a double layer of chicken wire with straw between the layers, about three feet long with an inside diameter of 10 to 12 inches — was developed for mallards. The straw not only protects a mallard from being seen by predators, but it also gives the incubating hen some weather protection. These “hen houses” are mounted horizontally three to four feet above the water on a tripod made from pieces of electric conduit pipe (10 feet long). The tripod mount also helps prevent predators from getting to the nesting tube.
Both of these artificial nesting structures have done a great job of increasing the populations of these two species of waterfowl and have been used for many years in our local Alabama Swamps. I have a dozen or so wood duck nesting boxes and a mallard “hen house” in the woods that surround my house.
Maintenance of these structures stopped 20 years ago at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, and stopped in recent years on the local Wildlife Management Areas run by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Many people think that’s not right.
Cheektowaga-based Delta Waterfowl, an active and dedicated group of waterfowl hunters, has “taken the bull by the horns” and is putting up and maintaining nesting boxes on the state and federal preserves. They have installed more than 44 new nesting structures in the wetlands of the Tonawanda, Oak Orchard, John White and Braddock Bay Wildlife Management Areas and plan to maintain them while adding more in the future.
The group has conducted a “wood duck box build day” with Cub Scouts, several Adopt-A-Highway trash cleanup events through the Iroquois refuge along Route 63 and a shoreline cleanup along Beaver Island; they also have donated to several local charities and a college scholarship fund for high school seniors, and they work with youths and veterans to get them out in the field to enjoy the great outdoors through waterfowl hunting. To join this great group, learn of their events and get more involved with protecting wildlife and the environment, call 716-310-9418 or send an email to committee@wnydelta.org.
The tundra swans have left the Alabama Swamps, but the ospreys have returned, along with sandhill cranes and tree swallows. Spring has sprung; don’t miss it!