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Jennifer's Wood Duck box setup
Feb 15, 2009 -
Jennifer describes her Wood Duck box setup on her blog:
http://texasbirdingandnestingwithjennifer.blogspot.com/
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Another Wood Duck
Jun 17, 2009 -
Another wood duck nest, with 10 eggs, was found in Greenville, TX. The first egg was laid around June 2nd.
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Readjusting
Jun 19, 2009 -
The female is spending most of her day sitting on the eggs. That means that getting up to stretch and rotate the eggs is very important both for her and her future chicks.
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Glimpse at the Eggs
Jun 22, 2009 -
The female makes it hard to see her eggs. She has been good about burying them when she leaves. Here we get a brief glimpse of 6 of them.
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Estimate Hatch Date
Jun 24, 2009 -
With a first egg date of June 2nd, we're anticipating a hatch date of around July 13th or so.
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Covering Eggs
Jun 26, 2009 -
Most ground nesting ducks cover their eggs to protect them from the sun and predators. Wood ducks still perform this action. This may show that, on an evolutionary timeline, wood ducks started nesting in cavities relatively recently.
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Out for the Morning
Jun 29, 2009 -
Wood ducks take long breaks from incubation. This female left the nest around 6am (camera time) and still hasn't been seen by almost 10am (camera time).
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Hard To Count
Jul 01, 2009 -
More than ever, this female is diligent about covering up her eggs. In this image, we can see about seven eggs. It is possible she has more than the 10 we've estimated.
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Ten Eggs for Sure!
Jul 04, 2009 -
With this image, and a note from Jen the cam host, we can now be sure that there are only 10 eggs in this nest.
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Not Incubating All the Eggs
Jul 06, 2009 -
Though it may seem like the female isn't incubating all of the eggs, it is actually a very delicate process. She has to let the eggs reach a certain temperature without overheating.
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Everlasting Eggs
Jul 08, 2009 -
Some research has gone into how long Wood Duck eggs stay viable. If exposed to temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the eggs will probably die. However, some eggs that have frozen and cracked have been known to still hatch!
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Hatch Day!
Jul 10, 2009 -
The ducklings have started hatching this morning. Though they just hatched, they will probably be out of the nest by tomorrow morning.
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Chicks Have Fledged
Jul 11, 2009 -
Check out all the video highlights that cam host Jen has sent our way. They are in no particular order.
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