Second Morning
Weather -Partly Cloudy, 39F, NW winds 15mph, gusts 20mph
Sunrise - 6:10am
Ok, it’s COLD out. I could hear the wind howling the night before and decided I was not going to set my alarm. The thought of being out there in the dark in “feels like” 30F was a bit much. I thought (maybe incorrectly) that she would not want to take them out in weather that cold. I woke up about 5:45am and was in the blind by 6:44am.
It was very quiet. I only heard or saw 13 species of birds this morning. I didn’t see or hear any wood duck until…. 9:00am I see a male on the shore near the nest box, then I see a female. The male is calling (I can’t hear it but I can see him calling). She then flys to the nest box and looks inside. She does not go inside, but instead flew back down with the male. They go into the water, walk around the shoreline and I see them looking up at the box. I’m a bit confused by this. At first I thought they may be a pair house hunting. I thought she didn’t go in because the other hen was in there. Then I am wondering if she IS the hen of this box and she is calling them out. I notice my heart is beating faster - is the moment here, will the ducklings jump? This doesn’t make sense though, normally the male would not be part of this. She then flys back to the box opening and again looks inside. She does not go inside but instead goes to the top of the box. She spends a couple of minutes there, then flys back to the male and the two of them fly off.
So, I’m not sure what happened there. I got some pretty good pictures of her in the morning sun. I left about 9:25am.
Day Summary -
Did not see her leave or return.
I stayed approximately 2.5 hours.
