Holy Merganser!

 Yesterday evening, Gail and I were sitting by the window, watching the river, when she said it might be a good idea to look at our duck box camera TV.  I replied that I had been checking it every day, and nothing was going on. We looked anyway, and wow, there was a Hooded Merganser tending at least 3 eggs.  I had looked several hours earlier and didn't see any.  What was happening?

April 6

After watching her for over an hour, she carefully started covering up her eggs with pine shavings and left the box. It was nearly dark, and after checking for another 2 hours, she didn't return.  I realized then that this probably means she is still laying eggs, but not incubating them yet.  It was as if she was tucking them in for the night, and then leaving the box to roost or hunker down somewhere else. Last year we named our Hooded Merganser that nested successfully in our duck box "April".  Since they often return to the same nest the following year, this could be April.  The eggs will all hatch within a few hours of each other, and then within 24 hours, April will call from outside the nest box, and the ducklings will climb up and out of the box, one by one.  They will be feathered in down, able to swim, and can catch food.  Hopefully, this year will have a happy ending for the nest.

The camera system is a little funky.  It is a cheap analog camera inside the ceiling of the duck box.  A cable runs from the box next to the river, up a steep bank, to the house where it is connected to an old TV with RCA inputs.  In the video, you can hear rain drops landing on the sheet metal of the predator guard. 

Sunday Update

April returned to her nest yesterday evening and has been sitting on her eggs since.  April 8 marks the first day of incubation.  Incubation can last 26 to 41 days. I could see at least 4 eggs at one time, but there could be more that I can't see, as normal clutch size is 5-13 eggs.  The night camera image is clearer than the daytime image because it works using infrared light.  These videos are night videos.

April 9

This is April's nest box along the river below our house.