My report for April to the team:
Whew! I am caught up with my paperwork for the moment. Data and photos posted to Cornell, thank you. Six new clutches were started in April and are now incubating, 5 Wood Duck and 1 Hooded Merganser. On the downside, we clearly have two nests that have been abandoned and that we will clean out on our next work day. Nothing has hatched out yet, but I expect boxes #1 and #3 to be hatched by next time, as well as possibly box #6.
So, we’ve seen nesting activity in 11 of the 16 boxes, which is fairly typical. Plus that early arriving, fast shrinking Hooded Merganser brood that would have used a natural cavity.
Work days in May will be 11 May and 25 May (Memorial Day weekend). 11 May will go rather quick, because we have several boxes incubating that we will skip….
Arigatō gozaimasu!