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Dancing Bird Studio

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Dancing Bird Studio

Tag Archives: Wood Duck

Wood Ducklings and Pond Sliders

31 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Darcy in environment, Nature, wildlife

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

ducklings, pond, turtles, wetland, Wood Duck

Ducklings+turle5x7
These Wood Duck ducklings are just a couple of days old and already feel very much at home in their pond. They are even making fast friends with their neighbors. Click on the image for a larger view.
Photo by Ted Thousand | ©2015

Female Wood Duck

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Darcy in Art, environment, Nature, wildlife

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

duck pond, female wood duck, pond, Wisconsin wetland, Wood Duck

Wood_duck_female2
Most female birds are less colorful than their male counterparts, but still very beautiful. This female Wood Duck was one of four that visited our neighbor’s pond where Ted has been photographing from his blind a few days each week. The ducks usually arrive around 5:30am and stay for a few hours. During this time, the female(s) who are laying eggs will enter the nest box and emerge about 30 minutes later. When all of the eggs have been laid, the female will begin a month-long incubation, leaving for short periods each day to eat.

Click on the image to see a larger photo. ©2015 Ted Thousand

Wood Duck

16 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by Darcy in environment, Nature, wildlife

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

birds, ducks, Wood Duck

WoodDuck724sml
This male Wood Duck and his mate have made their home on a pond about a mile from ours. Ted put a blind on our neighbor’s property and waited for the pair to arrive. The female spent about an hour in the nest box that has an opening 5-6 feet above the surface of the water, while the male floated watch below. A female can have 2 broods each year and may lay as many as 16 eggs of her own – one each day – before she begins to incubate them all together. Egg dumping may also occur when an unknown female enters the nest and lays her eggs among the others. As many as 29 eggs have been recorded in one nest. As the ducklings hatch they climb up the inside of their nest box, or tree cavity, using sharp claws that will enable them to perch in trees once they can fly to limbs high above the ground.

Photo by Ted Thousand ©2015. Click on the image for a larger version.

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