Where are the little ducklings?

[FISHER ED]

Is it just me or did the Metro area have a poor duckling hatch this Spring due to all the rain? I live in Blaine and saw/see a lot of adult Mallards but have yet to see any ducklings. Was up north over the past weekend and saw some so I know it's not too early. Did we get too much rain too fast these past months or what? If the nests got drowned out it's a shame because we need all the ducks we can get. Ed

[Mark Christianson]

I haven't seen many either.
But don't lose hope yet.
Some species of ducks will nest sometimes 3 times in a summer if the nests keep getting destroyed.
There is still hope.

[Gissert]

I have been seeing a lot of baby woodies in the Fergus area, and teal to a lesser extent.

[fishface5]

We had a pretty good hatch of mallards on the S.E. corner of B. L. Most are desendants of a doz. we raised and released 2 yrs. ago. I counted 5 of my banded mallards back this year. They and thier offspring hatched 20-30 ducklings so far this spring. They'll probably have another batch or two before we can shoot at them. Last year the last ducklings to hatch couldn't fly untill mid Oct. The drake never did get full colers, and is back now. He is starting to molt along with the rest of the boys. He and his sister are also way on the small side.

[Mark Christianson]

FF5
Can you email me?
I have been considering raising some birds.

If you are getting that kind or success, that is all the more reason for me to give it a try. I am north of Big Lake a couple miles(as you and I have discussed on line in the past).
My kids would love this. (OK, I would love it more than they will)

[email protected]

[BLACKJACK]

I've been wondering the same thing. Seeing a few batchs, one bunch of pretty good sized mallards, one batch of recently hatched teal, one diver type duck with 6, but haven't been seeing ANY wood duck batches, and I know a lot of my wood duck houses have egg shells in them, but not seeing the broods, was wondering if some of the heavy rains did them in?

Those diving duck ducklings are fun to watch, kind of like little corks going under water and then coming up!

[full force five]

Not to worry guys, they are out there. . . Just hard to see. With all the water and flooded areas they are not going to sit out in open water. Ducklings are trying to avoid predators from the air and water.

I'm sure some nests were flooded out but ducks will re-nest 2 or 3 times. It might be a later hatch but it should be a good one.

[Guest]

Nope none up here either, yet. Usually lake bemidji is teaming with the little chirpers just at sunset when I head out fishing. NONE yet this year and seen plenty of hens flying around! ???????????

[fishface5]

Not baseball coach Mark? AY? B.L. Blue? The return on a bag of corn a week is amazing, the influence it has on a few mallards! The wood duck house I put up got wet with the late spring rains, so no woodies. (Ha, we'll leave that one alone, ok ?!)

[kelly-p]

This Topic is getting concerning. Here in the URL area we are seeing the same thing. I had been thinking that it was only in this area. There appear to be more adult ducks around then most years but very few broods of young. Usually we are seeing 30 to 50 broods each trip around the Paddies but this year the best day was 3 broods???????? We have not had the heavy rains up here that happened to the south, we have only had 1 1/2 inches of rain in the past 30 days and are actually a little dry. I was hoping that it was just going to be a late hatch but there are so many hens and pairs around when they should be on a nest if it was a late hatch?????? With the nesting islands we have built in the paddies predators should not be getting that many and the water level is stable within 2 inches????? I keep hoping that one of these days the broods will be all over the place like they should be but as each day goes by I get a little more concerned.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Finlander]

Heres where they went:

D:\temp\d.lotus.notes.data\~9410061.jpg