Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser dilemma

[Draco]

I was happy to see a pair of Wood Duck on the house that I put out over the small lake that I live on. That was about two weeks ago. The hen checked it out and I saw her for several days after that. On Saturday the 5th I stopped seeing her, so on Wednesday the 9th I rowed out and opened the access cover. Bad idea! I flushed her and found that she had a clutch of nine eggs. Nest fidelity must be strong for this bird because it returned in time for what I believe was incubation in progress. Shortly after I had upset her a hen Hooded Merganser landed on and was interested in the housing. The hen Wood Duck showed up in time to get back in before the Merganser went in. I have chased the Merganser from the top of the box several times since then. Now I read that Merganser will occasionally nest in the same box with a Wood Duck. It does not seem to be nesting in the box, but I wouldn't doubt that it may be laying eggs. This will mean trouble for everyone, especially the Merganser eggs which will be on a daily rotating incubation, instead of a whole clutch at a time. What would you do? Let nature take its course? Take another look?

mark

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Mark,

Best let nature take its course - if nothing else, it would probably be illegal to interfere and would certainly risk making the Wood Duck desert if there was a lot of human activity near the nest (a one-off disturbance won't cause problems, but repeated disturbance will)

Here's to hoping both are successful!

Michael