Waterfowl Nest Box Monitoring

Waterfowl Nest Boxes are checked after the breeding season to monitor productivity and for maintenance.

We took advantage of the short window of adequate ice coverage to check our waterfowl nest boxes on the property.  We want to thank our volunteers who are supporting us with this effort during the brief window of opportunity.  Nicki Hall, Shannon Smith, and Anthony Cianciolo were a big help this season.  Nest producitivity was lower than average which is likely due to the cooler and wetter breeding season.  If we get another stretch of time when ice coverage is adequate for safely approaching the boxes, then several boxes require some minor maintanence.  We also need to re-install one nest box at Heron Pond which fell over this past summer due to broken post. 

Game Camera Along Bantam River at Haight Parcel

A series of videos and images captured on a game camera set along the Bantam River at White Memorial Foundation's Haight Parcel in Litchfield, CT, USA

Waterfowl Nest Boxes Check for 2017

(l to r) Jared Franklin, Rachelle Talbot, and Ireland Kennedy check waterfowl nest boxes
 to monitor seasonal productivity and maintenance needs.

White Memorial checks waterfowl nest boxes annually to monitor the breeding productivity of wood duck and hooded mergansers on the property.  Waterfowl populations have rebounded since the early 20th century due to increasing nest sites by installing nest boxes, protecting wetland habitats, and regulating harvesting by creating and enforcing wildlife conservation laws.  Waterfowl nest boxes are installed in or very close to wetland habitats on the Foundation property and are used briefly by the ducks for laying and incubating eggs.  Ducks and mergansers hatch fully feathered with their eyes open and vacate the boxes very soon after they hatch.  White Memorial has a total of 28 nest boxes on the property, of which we were able to safely check 27 boxes.  A total of 20 boxes were used by waterfowl which were able to fledge a total of 102 chicks.  Wood shavings are used as nesting materials and are replaced each year.

Waterfowl Boxes

So we had some maintenance that we needed to catch up on. This maintenance isn't too simple in terms of actually getting to the location and it requires us to take the truck out on to the trails. And once you actually get to the spot you either have to go by canoe or be ready to throw on a pair of waders.

One of our waterfowl nest boxes located on Heron Pond

We have waterfowl nest boxes installed around the property. These boxes are important to ducks who use them to make their nests. The most common ducks to visit the boxes are Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers. Occasionally, Great Crested Flycatchers can be found as well. 

The problem is, these ducks aren't the only creatures out there interested in said boxes. Predators like raccoon's often attempt to climb up these nestboxes in order find food at the expense of the ducklings. This is when predator guards come in handy. They are meant to act as a non-climbable surface and consist of a PVC pipe that is attached to the nestbox. This would be the same kind of predator guard that we use on our bluebird boxes. The screws holding the predator guards to the boxes can end up rusting, leaving the PVC pipe to drop into the murky water below. We simply have to get to the box, fish out the PVC, and screw them back in. If the PVC is screwed back in and there doesn't seem to be any other problems, the box will be ready for the next season.

Waterfowl Nest Boxes 2013 Breeding Season

Waterfowl Nest Boxes are checked every winter
to review success of each breeding season

We've nearly completed reviewing the breeding success of waterfowl that use the nest boxes located throughout the property.  We currently have a total of 25 nest boxes installed and functioning within normal parameters.  Breeding was attempted in 21 of the nest boxes.  Nicki Hall and Alyce Walker volunteered a great deal of time this year to aid in this process.  Ice conditions were suitable for a short period of time but we managed to reach the boxes that require more ice early on and then were able to access the other boxes soon afterwards.  We had only 8 hooded merganser eggs hatch and fledged, all of which were found in one nest box.  This box was in a pond over fairly deep water.  The wood ducks appeared to fare better with a total of 145 fledged ducklings.  This past spring season was very dry!  Several observations indicate that the drought impacted the waterfowl that use the nest boxes.  Several of the boxes were usurped by white-footed mice and grey squirrels, which rarely happens because the nest boxes are located in regularly flooded marshes and ponds.  The squirrels and mice were able to access the boxes while the marshes were dry for such a long period of time this spring.  We had one great-crested flycatcher nest in one box this season.  We also had 3 boxes with eastern screech owl pellets, indicating that this rarely observed small owl at least visited the property probably during their autumn migration.

Waterfowl Nest Box Monitoring Continues

James Fischer, WMCC Research Director, checks the waterfowl nest box
at Beaver Pond to monitor the waterfowl breeding season productivity.
Notice the mink tracks that travel in front of the nest box from left to right.
Photo by Abby Conroy

We continue to take advantage of the short window of adequate ice covering the water under our waterfowl nest boxes on the property.  We want to thank our volunteers who are supporting us with this effort during the brief window of opportunity.  Abby Conroy, Marie Kennedy, Nick Miofsky (CT DEEP EnCon Police Officer), and Susan Spencer have made special efforts this winter season.  Marcus Johansson helped us with several boxes that can be approached via land in the autumn.

Wood Duck Nest Box Inspections, 1/6/2012

Wood Duck male photo by Paul Fusco

from www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

Wood Duck Successful Nest, showing egg shells,

membranes that surrounded the chicks when they

hatched, and down from the mother; all on a bed of

wood shavings which we provided.

Photo by Dave Rosgen

This past Friday, 1/6/2012, Nick Miofsky and I (Dave Rosgen) checked 6 of our duck nest boxes for usage in 2011. We visited all 3 boxes at Duck Pond, the one in Pine Island Marsh, and both of the boxes in Mallard Marsh. All of these boxes had been moved from dangerous deepwater locations to safe shoreline locations by Scott Dayton and me last winter. Still, 80" of rain in 2011 put these formerly shoreline spots under as much as 2' of water. Because of all the mild weather that our area has experienced in the past month, much of this water was coated with less than 1" of ice. We were able to break through this ice with a potato hook as we walked to every box except the one on the south side of Duck Pond. The ice there was over 2" thick and held us as we walked on it. If we had fallen through it wouldn't have been a big deal since the water was only about 6" deep. Another major reason to move these boxes to shoreline locations (which was discussed in a few blog postings last winter) was to eliminate flooding of the boxes as a cause of nest failures. It worked! None of these boxes came anywhere close to being flooded, despite massive amounts of rain last year. Coupled with relatively mild weather last spring and our PVC pipe predator guards effectively stopping Raccoons and other predators from raiding the boxes, all 6 of these boxes were successful in fledging young. They were all occupied by Wood Ducks, and leftover eggshell membranes indicated that a total of 46 young hatched from them. Subtracting the one dead baby that we found among the nest material, that means that 45 young successfully fledged from these boxes. That's excellent! We also found a total of 14 unhatched eggs in these boxes. They were probably the first ones laid by the hens last April, and they probably froze on a few cold nights before she commenced incubation of the full clutch. Unfortunately, that's common, but it is offset by the large clutch sizes. More often than not, at least half the eggs in any given clutch hatch. In these boxes it was 77%. Last summer, Marcus Johannson and I checked the 5 shoreline boxes at Ongley Pond, and N. Shore, Pike, and Icehouse Marshes. All of them had Wood Duck nests, with 4 successfully fledging a total of 38 young. The fifth, at Icehouse Marsh, failed due to freezing of the entire clutch of 18 eggs. This probably was a dump nest where more than one female lays her eggs in a box, but none of them settle down to incubate the clutch. It might indicate a need for another box in that area. Despite this one failure we are very pleased that 10 out of the 11 boxes checked so far have been successful. That makes for an excellent success rate of 91% so far. Nicole Morin and I plan to check the last 4 boxes in safe locations this afternoon. Then it will be a matter of waiting until prolonged cold temperatures make ice around the rest of the 19 boxes less dangerous for us to walk on so that we can go out and check them. If that doesn't happen, we will have to use a canoe to get to them when the ice is gone. Somehow, we will make sure that they are checked before the 2012 nesting season begins in April. Stay tuned.

Long-billed Dowitcher and other notable birds seen at Little Pond, 9/27/11

Long-billed Dowitcher photo from http://www.gobirding.eu/

Wilson's Snipe photo by Bob Stanowski

Rusty Blackbird photo by Bob Duschene

from http://www.pvcaudubon.org/

Blue-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Green-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Great Egret photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

A visit to Little Pond this past Tuesday evening, 9/27, (before the latest rainstorms inundated this area with floodwaters) turned up White Memorial's first-ever (in recent times) Long-billed Dowitcher. While scanning the shoreline for shorebirds I spotted a gray bird with a very long bill probing like a sewing machine in the mud. Since Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers look very similar, and their bills are only 1/4" difference in length, it was initially very difficult to determine which species we had. Even with the spotting scope it didn't show a definite characteristic for either species. However, since Short-billed has been seen here approximately 8 times in the past 12 years, and Long-billed had not been seen here at all in that time span, I was leaning toward calling it Short-billed or just Dowitcher sp. Most of the previous sightings have been in the spring when the two species have enough differences in plumage to distinguish them. Plus, all of the previous birds gave their distinctive Short-billed "tu-tu-tu" call notes while we watched them. Fortunately for us this time, this bird let loose with its distinctive "keek" call notes several times when it flushed and flew around for no obvious reason. The call notes clinched this bird's identification as Long-billed. These calls, coupled with the lack of striping on the head and back ruled out Wilson's Snipe, which we had just seen a few minutes before spotting this bird. Other notable birds seen on and around the pond on this visit included 52 Wood Ducks, 5 Blue-winged Teal, 13 Green-winged Teal, 4 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Great Egret, and 2 Green Herons. Notable by virtue of high numbers were Mallards (99) and Swamp Sparrows (45). The Little Pond Trail produced our first Rusty Blackbird of the fall season, 24 White-throated Sparrows, a Marsh Wren, and a hooting Great Horned Owl as notable species. In all, this visit tallied 44 species of birds in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Three days later, after 5.5" of rain had inundated the boardwalk and the rest of the area, we only came up with 34 species along the trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. and the overlook area on the west side of the pond. With no feeding habitat available for shorebirds we didn't find any, but we were surprised to find a Sora trying to forage along the edge of the woods where the floodwaters were intruding into them. For ducks, we only saw 2 Woodies, 2 Blacks, and 25 Mallards. The rest of the birds seen on this visit were common resident and migrant landbirds along the trail, including 35 White-throated Sparrows.

Cemetery Pond is Really Good, Too!

Black-crowned Night-Heron adult

from www.commons.wikimedia.org

Black-crowned Night Heron immature

from http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Wood Duck photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

Lesser Yellowlegs photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Greater Yellowlegs photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

The last two postings raved about Little Pond and all of the birds that we've seen out there in the past 10 days. However, Cemetery Pond can be very productive, too, especially from mid-July through late October. Throughout most of this time Wood Ducks are very numerous. This is a very important place for hens to bring their broods of young in July and August to feed on an abundance of zooplankton, and for adults to molt to their feathers from late July through early September. It is also a very important place for migrants to stop and feed. The highlights there this week, along with the Wood Ducks (39 last evening), were an adult and immature Black-crowned Night-Heron found by Mike Doyle on Saturday, 7/31, and seen again by Fran Zygmont and myself last evening, and as many as 8 Green Herons there last evening. These can all be seen fairly well with binoculars. The shorebirds are most often seen feeding in the mud on the north side of the pond where the Phragmites has been exterminated. They really like this open expanse. Last evening we saw 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 4 Killdeer feeding in this patch. Some of the other birds seen last evening were a Great Blue Heron, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Willow Flycatcher with 2 fledglings, 6 adult and 5 fledgling Eastern Kingbirds, 90 Barn Swallows heading in to roost in the Cattails around the Pond, 5 Marsh Wrens singing from these Cattails, 120 American Robins heading in to roost in the Woods north of the Pond, and 16 Cedar Waxwings. These birds, along with all of the usual common species, made for a list of 37 species seen and/or heard at this "hot spot" from 7:20 until 8:40 p.m. yesterday. And for those readers who don't know where Cemetery Pond is, it is located at the intersection of White's Woods Rd. and Constitution Way in Litchfield. Both streets afford a fair amount of safe parking, but one does need to be on the lookout for speeding traffic at all times while walking or standing along the sides of these streets. This pond is also across the street (White's Woods Rd.) from St. Anthony's Cemetery, which is another good birding spot, and is one of our Cerceris Wasp monitoring locations.

Wood Duck Update

Wood Duck male at White Memorial

photographed by Paul Fusco New and improved duck nest box placement at White Memorial's Mallard Marsh photographed by Dave Rosgen

Wood Ducks have been returning to northwest Connecticut in excellent numbers over the past 3 weeks. The past few days have seen a significant increase in their numbers. Last Thursday, 3/24, we counted 12 of these birds foraging along the shore of Bantam Lake's N. Bay by Litchfield Town Beach. Their numbers nearly doubled to 23 there 2 days later, and increased to 28 on the 28th. We counted 14 more a few minutes later that same day at Pt. Folly. We also counted 9 at Little Pond on the 24th, 6 in the Bantam River near Pike Marsh on the 29th, and 5 around the Museum Area on the 30th. Smaller numbers of these birds have been seen almost daily in various parts of the Property this month. We have no way of knowing how many of these Woodies are likely to stay and breed versus those continuing to migrate on to other breeding grounds. What we do know is that White Memorial typically hosts an average of 20 pairs of Wood Ducks and 7 pairs of Hooded Mergansers in its nest boxes. A few more of these birds nest in natural cavities in trees. This year we have 30 nest boxes out and available for these birds to use, and I hope to increase that number to 35 before the nesting season ends. For the past several years the number of boxes available for use has been around 32, 33, or 34. Massive flooding during the spring of last year really took a toll on the boxes in addition to causing many nest failures. A couple of blog posts earlier in the year detailed the work that our great intern, Scott Dayton, did to help us rebuild or replace many of the damaged boxes. An integral part of this work was to move 16 of the boxes to higher ground at the edges of our wetlands and to mount them onto longer poles so that they would remain above the floodwaters. So far the flooding this spring hasn't come anywhere close to threatening these boxes, even though the water was very deep in places. The boxes at Little Pond, which we haven't had a chance to move yet, were inundated. The photo above this posting shows one of the relocated and remounted nest boxes on its long pole. The bottom of the box is 5' 6" off the ground. Floodwaters never got closer than 3' to it. Also notice the 3' 4" length of 6" diameter PVC pipe around the pole, fastened immediately under the box, that serves as a very effective predator guard. We've already seen Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers around several of these boxes and are confident that they will nest in them. Stay tuned.

Bald Eagle Update

Both Bald Eagle photos by Paul Fusco

Bald Eagle activity has picked-up around Bantam Lake in the past 2 weeks. A minimum of 4 birds have been seen during this time period, including an adult male with a silver band on his right leg and a gold band on his left leg. He was seen at Pt. Folly and/or North Bay on the 17th, 19th, 26th, 28th, and today. In all cases his leg bands were seen, but the numbers on them couldn't be read, even with a 60X spotting scope. Since his behavior is territorial and he seems to be rather unconcerned about humans, he might be the same adult male that was on territory here all of last year and 2009. That bird also carried silver and gold leg bands and didn't seem to be afraid of people. Eagles with gold leg bands were banded as nestlings in Massachusetts, which now has a sizeable population of breeding pairs. Many of these are located in suburban areas, so the young eagles have grown up accustomed to people. That would be a necessity for any eagle attempting to nest on the shores of Bantam Lake, given the fact that it is such a popular recreation area. The adult male last year and the year before was paired with an adult female. They put small piles of sticks in at least 5 trees, and a bigger pile that came to look like a nest in a very large White Pine tree. This type of nesting behavior is common among Bald Eagles, and is referred to as house keeping. It typically occurs one or two years before the eagles really settle down to breed. A glitch in this process occured early last summer when a 5th-year subadult female eagle showed-up at Bantam Lake. During the first few days of her presence she made it known by being very vocal. Then we witnessed her perching next to the adult male and engaging in aerial duals with the adult female. These activities were observed periodically throughout the summer. All 3 of these birds departed by early November. Where they went is anybody's guess. With the adult male (assuming it is him) back as of the 17th, we were wondering when or if we would see either of the females. Yesterday, I observed an adult male which could have been him perched right next to a 5th-year subadult female in a tree at the Litchfield Town Beach. Neither of them seemed to be concerned about my presence, and they remained perched there for the entire 45 minutes that I was there. My observation on the 26th involved the adult male chasing 6 Mallards and 2 Wood Ducks from the Litchfield Town Beach Cove straight at me as I was standing on the boat ramp. The ducks veered to the right about 50' from me, but the eagle kept coming, and made his right turn when he was 20' over my head. I could see his leg bands clearly, but couldn't read the numbers on them because he was moving too fast. The ducks made a clean getaway, and the eagle circled a few times before heading east toward Old Camp Townsend. The 2 eagles that I observed at Pt. Folly on the 25th were immature females (2nd-year and 3rd-year). They haven't been seen there since that day. If anyone reading this post observes eagles at Bantam Lake or elsewhere on White Memorial property, please let me know by e-mailing me at dave@whitememorialcc.org.

Results from Saturday's Bird Walk along N. Shore Rd.

Drake Northern Pintail from werc.usgs.gov

Continuing the theme of my recent blog postings about waterfowl surveying at Bantam Lake, this one gives the highlights of our public field trip along N. Shore Rd. this past Saturday, 3/12. The focus was on waterfowl at Bantam Lake and along the Bantam River from the Outlet downstream to the Oxbows. Fortunately for us, N. Shore Rd. affords ample views of these places. Otherwise, we would have had great difficulty accessing Pt. Folly and the Litchfield Town Beach due to serious flooding of those spots. On a positive note, this flooding brought many of the ducks and geese up close to the road as they foraged in the flooded bottomland. Whenever woodlands and shrublands become flooded, waterfowl are quick to exploit the new-found feeding opportunities. Our group of 30 people, including 15 Boy Scouts, were treated to excellent views of a Cackling Goose, 350 Canada Geese, 10 Northern Pintails, 2 Green-winged Teal, 27 American Black Ducks, 70 Mallards, a hybrid American Black Duck x Mallard, 45 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Buffleheads, 4 Common Goldeneye, 40 Common Mergansers, and 5 Hooded Mergansers. Though 8 Wood Ducks were present, only 6 members of our group got to see them because these birds hid so well among the shrubs. Waterfowl weren't the only birds spotted on this trip. Everyone got to see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker as it foraged among the trees by the Butternut Brook bridge, a male Eastern Bluebird as it sang from the tops of the trees at the Bantam R. Oxbows, a Red-bellied Woodpecker at Gail Scoville's feeders, and numerous Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and other common birds. In all, we saw 38 species of birds in 2.5 hours along 1.25 miles of road. We also saw a Muskrat, 2 Red Squirrels, and lots of Gray Squirrels. That's pretty good!

Recent waterfowl surveys at Bantam Lake

Greater White-fronted Goose photo from

dfw.state.or.us via Google Images

Male Wood Duck photo by Bob Stanowski

Male Hooded Merganser photo by

Bob Stanowski

Waterfowl surveying at Bantam Lake's Outlet, which is on N. Shore Rd., has produced an increasing number and variety of birds this week. On Tuesday, 3/8, I focused on counting ducks and geese as they came in to roost between 5:15 p.m. and dark. Most of these birds had spent the day feeding in cornfields around Litchfield, Morris, Bethlehem, and Warren. Among the 1,650 Canada Geese that came in were a Greater White-fronted Goose, a Canada x Greater White-fronted Goose Hybrid, and a Cackling Goose. These are all quite rare in Connecticut. Also seen were 3 Wood Ducks, 45 American Black Ducks, 100 Mallards, 14 Ring-necked Ducks, 26 Hooded Mergansers, and 25 Common Mergansers. Things were a little different when I conducted the survey between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Friday, 3/11. Most of the Canada Geese were probably still out feeding in area cornfields, as only 325 were counted at the Outlet. These were mostly feeding in the flooded bottomland downstream from the Outlet bridge. With them were 16 Wood Ducks, 185 Mallards, and 1 American Black Duck. The open water closer to Pt. Folly held our first Bufflehead and 2 Common Goldeneyes of 2011. Also there, were 34 Ring-necked Ducks, 5 Hooded Mergansers, and 17 Common Mergansers. Since the bulk of the northbound spring waterfowl migration occurs in March it will be interesting to see what surveys every few days turn up. These will be expanded as the month progresses (and as ice diminishes) to include all of Bantam Lake, plus Little and Cemetery Ponds. Any help with this effort from our readership would be much-appreciated.