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Submitted By
Connie Glattly
Pine County, MN, USA
Description
This is an image on our TV captured by the camera in our nest box. These are two Wood Duck hens usingg the same nest to lay her egg. The 1st one in had been ietting comfortably in the nesting material/down mixture when the 2nd hen plopped in unannounced. Many times when this happens (we’ve observed this before), the two birds will really battle for rights to the nest. This time, though, the 1st hen just looked very confused, tried to sit on the other hen and gather her under her wings. Duck #2 wasn’t having any of that, though, so Duck #1 just simply allowed her to have the box and left! We wish we would know which duck will end up incubating all the eggs but we’ve found that they’re reluctant to wear their name tags…
Category
Species
Double Dipping?
Fun to watch. I have name tags for you tho!!!
How wonderful to observe. Thanks for sharing
Mary! My mom’s last name is Brennan!
Wood Ducks have been known to co-nest on rare occasions (both hens incubating) so keep an eye out. Otherwise, the second female may simply be looking for a place to dump an egg or two, but usually they are more sneaky about that so it’ll be interesting to see what her intentions might be.