Hey, gang. Rick Persson, my friend who lives on Lake Koshkonong, tells
me the woodies are back. If you haven't already cleaned out your wood
duck nest boxes, get on it this weekend. I've put it off all winter,
but plan to check mine as soon as the wind and rain let up around here.
Here's Rick's report:
"Lots of wildlife movement
this weekend. The waterfowl is especially starting to pick up.
3-11-06 Wood ducks and Robins have arrived
today.
3-12-06 The lake has started to open up
again. The Eagles have retuned and there are lots of waterfowl starting to
move in.
Sighted off Carcajou Point: Eagles (6),
Canvasbacks (18), Bluebills (95 mostly drakes), Buffelhead (30), Goldeneye (42),
Hooded Mergansers (27) American Mergansers(100+ mostly drakes). There
are Mallards(400+), Widgeon (28) and Wood ducks(32) in the
marshes as well as the lake. We saw many Sandhill Cranes (100 to 200)
moving north along with hundreds of Geese.
Not close enough to film yet. Still out in
the lake. 400 to 500 yards but close in the marsh with fewer
species."
By the way, Rick is an officer with the Lake Koshkonong Wetlands
Association, a great conservation group that is working to preserve a
pretty special chunk of habitat. Check out their Web site.
And here's another report from Gail & Charlie Thon on their boxes, which they checked this weekend:
"A quick report on wood duck boxes. Gail and I
went down to Vernon to check
out the boxes we[base ']ve put up over the past 5 or 6 years. We had 11 boxes on
trees and 4 mounted on poles. First the tree mounted boxes. Two boxes were on
the ground (nails pulled through), 6 had been inhabited by squirrels at one
time or another, 1 had a beautiful red phase Screech Owl in it that did not
leave the box even as we stood beneath it and told it how beautiful it was, and
2 had been used by wood ducks. The 4 pole mounted boxes had been used by ducks.
We had not cleaned these boxes in the past 2 years and they were full of wood
duck feathers, egg shells and membranes. It[base ']s quite obvious the ducks
liked these boxes the best. They had no sign of predator damage as did some of
the squirrel infested boxes. We also saw wood ducks, mallards, common and
hooded mergansers on our way up and down the river. Also saw a great horned owl
and a huge raccoon up in a rather small tree. We brought back 5 boxes that had
squirrel sign in them and the 2 that were on the ground for repairs. I think we[base ']ll
be installing them around here (Cedar Creek or Milwaukee river area)
somewhere, and will definitely be mounting them on poles. If you have any thoughts
we[base ']d love to hear them."
So there you have it. Our wood ducks usually don't show up until April
8 or so, but with the mild weather might bring them back sooner. I have
heard plenty of sandhill cranes, though. At least a week ago, maybe
longer, we heard cranes flying over. It was still plenty cold
out, but they were unmistakeably sandhills. Then this weekend I heard
lots of bugling from about 5:00 to 6:00 a.m., so I know our resident
birds are back. Saw my first robin this morning, too.
And with the snow gone, the yard and woods reveal lots of work to be
done. Not to mention apple trees I should have pruned last month!
Later...
8:53:54 PM 
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