No resting for nesting waterfowl moms: Picking up the house. Keeping track of the kids. Making sure everyone eats a good meal.
Sounds like the traditional job of a mother, right? Well it also describes life for female waterfowl this time of year.
The spring and summer months are when female waterfowl build nests, lay eggs and care for newly hatched young. For most waterfowl, all of this work falls mainly on the female.
It's a busy and often dangerous time for her. There is no resting for the nesting in the waterfowl world.
During midsummer, the breeding grounds are a flurry of activity for waterfowl. Many species are now experiencing peak nesting activity.
By today, most pintail and mallard nests have hatched, and broods of these species are abundant on shallow wetlands.
The first redhead broods are appearing, as are blue-winged teal, shoveler, lesser scaup and ruddy ducks.
By mid-July, most mallard and pintail young from early nests begin flying. Midsummer rains are critical now to maintain shallow wetlands and influence re-nesting efforts and brood survival.
You can follow this season's nesting action on the Ducks Unlimited Web site as DU researchers study nesting ecology in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region at ducks.org/Page2484.aspx.
Here are some interesting nesting facts:
Bigger is better: A trumpeter swan builds a nest that measures up to 13 feet across.
Hiding out: Cinnamon and blue-winged teal hens often create a cave-like nest by weaving grass above their heads.
Home is what you make of it: Some waterfowl don't put a lot of effort into making a nest. The hen often stays put, stretches out her neck and grabs whatever nest material she can reach.
Extra-large eggs: The ruddy duck hen is one of the smallest waterfowl, but she lays some of the largest eggs compared with her body size. In fact, a clutch of six to nine eggs may weigh three times as much as she does.
Dump 'em: Different hens may lay as many as 80 eggs in a single nest.
Lay 'em and leave 'em: The redhead sometimes chooses to lay an egg in another bird's nest – often that of a canvasback. Or it can belong to another redhead or another kind of duck.
Sometimes it's even a bird that isn't in the waterfowl family. The receiving duck then has the job of caring for the redhead's egg and its duckling later on.
Little bundles of joy: A hen will lay one egg every 24 hours. Waterfowl typically lay anywhere from two to 16 eggs.
Waterfront view: Nesting close to water isn't always important to waterfowl. In fact, it can be detrimental to nesting success because shorelines provide highways for nest predators. Pintail hens often choose a nesting spot in fields up to 2 miles from the nearest wetland.
High-rise apartment for rent: Hooded mergansers hens often like to nest in tree cavities as high as 75 feet above the ground.
Know your neighbors: Common eiders often nest alongside snowy owls. The owls chase away predators to guard their own nest. This helps the eider, too.
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