This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01C779EB.D0E4A7B0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
In the "Can You Top This" department, check out a short piece in the = most recent (March, 2007, Volume 119, #1) of the Wilson Journal of = Ornithology. Christian Artuso of Winnipeg, Ontario had installed a = miniature video camera in a nest box successfully used by Eastern = Screech Owls in 2002 - 2004. In 2005, the female owl had laid 5 eggs = and had been incubating for at least 19 days when a female Wood Duck = entered the box, gradually removed the entire clutch, and laid 3 of her = own eggs. The owl kept incubating, hatched the 3 wood ducks, preened = them, and attempted to feed them until they left the box on their own. = It is not known whether any of the 3 young ducks survived. A similar = nearby nest box, used in previous years by Wood Ducks, was empty. =20 In my neighborhood, the snow has settled and melted in sunny spots, the = huge flocks of Slate-colored Junco everyone near here has reported are = beginning to thin out, with more of the pale gray or brownish = female/young male birds in the mix. We see a Fox Sparrow or two daily, = have had 3 or so Tree Sparrows, one White-throated Sp., but no others = yet. Amer. Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and up to 10 Com. Redpolls are = singing and gobbling up thistle seeds, with some unusual competition - a = male Hairy Woodpecker has developed a taste for the mix of thistle, = millet and sunflower hearts now in a tube feeder and has slightly = enlarged one of the tiny seed ports. He ignores the suet and a peanut = butter/corn meal/oatmeal/oil mix hanging nearby. Male Cardinal singing = lustily. The grackle and redwinged blackbirds here before the April = Fool's snow promptly disappeared. =20 My husband is watching the Masters Golf Tournament, and I'm enjoying the = snatches of Carolina Wren song. Carol Tveekrem, Schroeder, Cook Co. ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Sharon Stiteler=20 To: George B Skinner=20 Cc: MOU-net=20 Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 9:36 AM Subject: Re: [mou] Why 2 Wood Duck hens in box? I've heard of this happening in egg dumping situations. Usually, a = hen dumping eggs will wait until the other hen leaves the box, but I've = read accounts where the dumper just went in and laid while the original = female was incubating--I suppose when you've gotta lay eggs, you've got = lay eggs. Though there are pair bonds formed between a pair of wood ducks, both = members of the pair will mate with others. There are different theories on nest box placement. Some say egg = dumping is a sign you should put up another box, others say too many = wood duck boxes encourage egg dumping. Usually having wood duck boxes = 30 feet apart works well. Sharon Stiteler www.birdchick.com Minneapolis, MN On Apr 8, 2007, at 8:15 AM, George B Skinner wrote: Last week I saw a drake and hen standing on the box. The times I = checked TV camera in the box it never showed any ducks or eggs. Now, at 7:30 this morning, I saw a drake at the base of the support = pole. When I turned the camera on I saw there were two hens in the box. = One was sitting on top of about a third of the other one. They seen to = be resting. What is this behavior? Are they trying to wait each other out to = claim the box? Will they both lay? Do drakes have multiple hens? I have a second box that I could put up. Is there any minimum = distance they should be apart? Thank you, George Skinner Minnetonka, Hennepin Co., Minnesota ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01C779EB.D0E4A7B0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2900.3059" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY=20 style=3D"WORD-WRAP: break-word; khtml-nbsp-mode: space; = khtml-line-break: after-white-space"=20 bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=3DGaramond color=3D#008080>In the "Can You Top This" = department,=20 check out a short piece in the most recent (March, 2007, Volume 119, #1) = of the=20 <EM>Wilson Journal of Ornithology. </EM>Christian Artuso of = Winnipeg,=20 Ontario had installed a miniature video camera in a nest box = successfully used=20 by Eastern Screech Owls in 2002 - 2004. In 2005, the female owl = had laid 5=20 eggs and had been incubating for at least 19 days when a female Wood = Duck=20 entered the box, gradually removed the entire clutch, and laid 3 of her = own=20 eggs. The owl kept incubating, hatched the 3 wood ducks, preened = them, and=20 attempted to feed them until they left the box on their own. It is = not=20 known whether any of the 3 young ducks survived. A similar nearby = nest=20 box, used in previous years by Wood Ducks, was empty. = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080>In my neighborhood, the snow has settled and = melted in=20 sunny spots, the huge flocks of Slate-colored Junco everyone = near here=20 has reported are beginning to thin out, with more of the pale gray or = brownish=20 female/young male birds in the mix. We see a Fox Sparrow or two = daily,=20 have had 3 or so Tree Sparrows, one White-throated Sp., but no others = yet. =20 Amer. Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and up to 10 Com. Redpolls are singing = and=20 gobbling up thistle seeds, with some unusual competition - a male Hairy=20 Woodpecker has developed a taste for the mix of thistle, millet and = sunflower=20 hearts now in a tube feeder and has slightly enlarged one of the tiny = seed=20 ports. He ignores the suet and a peanut butter/corn = meal/oatmeal/oil mix=20 hanging nearby. Male Cardinal singing lustily. The grackle = and=20 redwinged blackbirds here before the April Fool's snow promptly=20 disappeared. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080>My husband is watching the Masters Golf = Tournament, and=20 I'm enjoying the snatches of Carolina Wren song.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080>Carol Tveekrem,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=3D#008080>Schroeder, Cook Co.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #008080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B>=20 <A title=3dbirdch...@gmail.com = href=3D"mailto:birdch...@gmail.com">Sharon=20 Stiteler</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=3dgeorge.skin...@gte.net=20 href=3D"mailto:george.skin...@gte.net">George B Skinner</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A = title=3dmou-...@cbs.umn.edu=20 href=3D"mailto:mou-...@cbs.umn.edu">MOU-net</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, April 08, 2007 = 9:36=20 AM</DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [mou] Why 2 Wood = Duck hens=20 in box?</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: = none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; = LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px = 0px; khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; apple-text-size-adjust: = auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"><SPAN=20 class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: = none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; = LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px = 0px; khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; apple-text-size-adjust: = auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"><SPAN=20 class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: = none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; = LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px = 0px; khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; apple-text-size-adjust: = auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"> <DIV>I've heard of this happening in egg dumping situations. = Usually, a=20 hen dumping eggs will wait until the other hen leaves the box, but = I've read=20 accounts where the dumper just went in and laid while the original = female was=20 incubating--I suppose when you've gotta lay eggs, you've got lay = eggs.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>Though there are pair bonds formed between a pair of wood ducks, = both=20 members of the pair will mate with others.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV>There are different = theories on=20 nest box placement. Some say egg dumping is a sign you should = put up=20 another box, others say too many wood duck boxes encourage egg = dumping. =20 Usually having wood duck boxes 30 feet apart works well.<BR=20 class=3DApple-interchange-newline></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV><BR> <DIV><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: = none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; = LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px = 0px; khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; apple-text-size-adjust: = auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"> <DIV>Sharon Stiteler</DIV> <DIV>www.birdchick.com</DIV> <DIV>Minneapolis, MN</DIV> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV><BR class=3Dkhtml-block-placeholder></DIV><BR=20 class=3DApple-interchange-newline></SPAN></DIV><BR> <DIV> <DIV>On Apr 8, 2007, at 8:15 AM, George B Skinner wrote:</DIV><BR=20 class=3DApple-interchange-newline> <BLOCKQUOTE type=3D"cite"><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: = none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; = LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px = 0px; khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; apple-text-size-adjust: = auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span = style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">Last=20 week I saw a drake and hen standing on the box. The times I = checked TV=20 camera in the box it never showed any ducks or = eggs.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span = style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">Now,=20 at 7:30 this morning, I saw a drake at the base of the support pole. = When I=20 turned the camera on I saw there were two hens in the box. One = was=20 sitting on top of about a third of the other one. They seen to be=20 resting.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span = style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">What=20 is this behavior? Are they trying to wait each other out to claim = the box?=20 Will they both lay? Do drakes have multiple = hens?</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span = style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">I=20 have a second box that I could put up. Is there any minimum distance = they=20 should be apart?</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span = style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">Thank=20 you,</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">George Skinner</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3DApple-style-span=20 style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10px">Minnetonka, Hennepin Co.,=20 Minnesota</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV><BR=20 = class=3DApple-interchange-newline></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BLOCKQU= OTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01C779EB.D0E4A7B0--