Steve Farrow installing a Wood Duck Box, 2006.
Overhunted and near extinction in the early twentieth century, the wood duck population is increasing, however, continued loss of quality habitat remains a threat. In 2005, the NorthWoods Conservation Corps partnered with Great Bay Hydro Corporation to build and install seven wood duck nesting boxes around Clyde Pond in Newport, Vermont as part of Great Bay Hydro Corporation’s wildlife habitat improvement efforts. Wood ducks have very specific nesting requirements—flooded woodland or vegetated wetlands—and the undeveloped shoreline of Clyde Pond is ideal.
Thanks to financial support from Great Bay Hydro Corporation, Corps staff has monitored and maintained these wood duck nesting boxes each year since. Nesting boxes are checked annually for signs of nesting activity – the presence of feathers, shell fragments or unhatched eggs. When unhatched eggs are found the species of egg can be determined by the size of the egg – usually either wood duck or mergansers. Each box and corresponding predator shield is repaired as necessary and cleaned out, and clean cedar shavings are placed in the nesting box. This year’s survey found signs of nesting in two of the boxes. A report of the survey findings over the past nine years is available upon request.