Monday, June 12, 2023

Going Back to April 10

I was hoping to post this earlier, but life moves too fast for me. Back in April, I glanced out my dining room window and saw a rather large, shadowy figure in the trees. I wondered if the osprey had moved into my backyard to explore a place to finish a recently caught fish. As I leaned in and looked closer I saw that there were two of them. The morning was still a bit shadowy, so I took my binoculars out to get a better look. They were ducks...ducks in the trees!? 

I could not see really well, but they looked like ducks I had not seen in my backyard before. Below you can see how I enhanced the exposure and made a better ID. WOOD DUCKS! Looking for a nesting site? Photos are somewhat muddled as it was shot through a window, but you can see they must have seen my shadow as they were watching me as I was watching them. What a marvelous bird, being able to climb along trees like that.

We, hubby and I, were involved in setting up and monitoring wood-duck boxes for nesting over the past years.  We no longer do that as it has been passed on to a younger group, but it looks like it may have paid off.



11 comments:

  1. what fun! these are different than the whistling ducks we sometimes see in our trees in the backyard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm very glad the wood ducks are safe with you. All our local ones were wiped out by Canadian "hunters" a few years ago. We had to get the law involved when shells started landing on our sidewalk near the marsh, and near our homes. Bit late for the ducks though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's a good thing you took pictures because I would have had a hard time believing you saw what you saw. I had no idea they roosted in trees.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic photos. Those ducks knew friends lived there!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yay! Lovely ducks!
    Many years ago, mother said she saw a duck in a tree. Others laughed at her, made fun, some who are bird watchers. Melts my heart to remember how happy she was being right about ducks in trees.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! I had no idea either that ducks took to the trees. Thanks for your photos and for your efforts to save them for the future.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wood Ducks, the beauty queens of ducks! I know about them but I have never actually seen them in trees! Very cool.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome photos. I once found a mallard nest in a spruce tree.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those are beautiful, i've never seen them in trees before.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My favorite ducks, Tabor, and how lovely that they are nesting near you!

    ReplyDelete

Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.