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Hi all,

3 drakes and 2 ducks present at Playhouse Theatre pond this morning.

cheers

Hi all,

And 4 drakes and one duck this morning.

cheers

Will be passing through the Nelson area on Wednesday, any updates? Missed these birds last year, would love another crack at them...

Spent several hours over two days last summer chasing these birds, today we found this one without getting out of the car. At the Playhouse. No sign of the female, hopefully she's on a nest.

Finally got to see the Australian Wood Ducks last week at the Playhouse Cafe ponds in Mapua with my son Zef. We had 3 visits and each time the Wood Ducks were conveniently out in the open on the first pond, or on the lawn by the pond. On the second trip we counted 9 wood ducks (a pair with 3 ducklings, another pair with 1 duckling, and another adult). Good to see they are breeding.

I visited very briefly in the pissing rain today and spotted a pair with a fledgling duckling which I assume was the first pair in your photos Scott.

I visited the ducks last summer and saw one pair, with a duckling, and an extra adult male at the Playhouse pond. There was also a pair at Hoddy Lagoon, and there may have been an extra female. I see on ebird that they've bred this (2020/2021) season too, and there are pictures of three well-grown juveniles with their parents. David Melville has reported two males, two females and five juveniles too, on the 06-Jan-21

I'm wondering if they need a helping hand and if there would be support to help fix nesting boxes and run predator traps. Is there anyone local that has been doing this, or considering it? I only visit Nelson occasionally but think about these birds regularly. It would be so fantastic to encourage them until a new blood makes its way over again

Thanks for the update Jake. It's great to hear that breeding has occurred again this 2020/2021 season. I'm not local to the Nelson area either but would be happy to help with your suggestion (in their being a cavity nester) if any locals down that way were considering installing some nesting boxes in the general area for the Wood ducks usage.

Probably not the most appropriate forum to reply on re this particular aspect, though I've made and helped to distribute some 800 odd nest boxes for Grey Teal (Tete) over the years in their also being a cavity nesting species, in various wetlands and I'd be happy to provide a few nest boxes for the Nelson area Wood ducks too if helpful?

I can provide some fairly detailed advice around installation of the nesting boxes but in a nutshell just as they also do in Aus, birds tend to readily take to these artificial nest boxes and their breeding success rate is generally improved when nesting in them and when erected correctly, the hen bird and her clutch are fairly secure and Rats and Stoats virtually never gain access into the nest box during the incubation period.

Thanks again for the updates,

Chris

No sign of any Wood Duck at Playhouse pond today, but found a single male on the pond at Hoddy Estuary reserve.

Five wood ducks at Hoddy Estuary Park this afternoon, none at the Playhouse ponds (which was looking quite dirty and full of greylag geese). Also at Hoddy were two very pure looking grey duck keeping well apart from the mallards and hybrids also present.