Hen mallards sharing nest

Darned interesting. I wish you had a webcam running on that 24/7. I hope the coons don't find it either.

You could flush her off and do an egg count. I'd be tempted, though my wife would kill me if I did something like that with the birds that nest all over our house and barn. I wonder if they have a double-sized clutch. I would doubt it, but maybe. I also wonder if the girls are related.
 
I am interested. You have baby eagle 24 hours cam views. Contact the local duck group if they would do this for ducks. I would pitch in a few bucks.

Unique experience. Thanks for sharing.
 
I tried to record the hens interacting prior to the swap but there was some personal conversations nearby that were too specific about families/friends that I don't want online. The hens chatted for 2-3 minutes. A webcam would be great especially since Fish, Wildlife Services are housed in our building and we have access to WIFI. Definitely something to think about for next year and I bet they'd pony up the cash. If the hen leaves the nest unattended I might go take a look to see how many eggs there are. I don't think it's a double clutch but there are definitely more in there than when I was able to look last time (some eggs are visible in the video).

We had a hen nest there last year but her nest was a failure because of magpies. My office mates viciously defend the nest when we see magpies around. The bigger hen is very likely the original hen from last year. I'm not sure where the second hen came from...maybe she renested and this is her daughter. They do have quiet conversations when the meet up and it is obvious they agree on sharing duties.

Based on occupation length, we're hoping to have little ones as early as May 8 (though it may be a touch earlier as I was out of town for a week)

The fact that the drake hangs out with one of the hens and waits for them to swap nesting times is still very perplexing
 
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Sometime over the last week, the hens have stopped sharing...well one has stopped sharing and the other hasn't been allowed back on the nest. Today she didn't even try. No ducklings yet but we gotta be getting close
 
I guess I never shared the rest of the story...last year the groundskeepers were trimming the trees and chased the birds away. Magpies destroyed the nest in a matter of minutes.

On the positive side I'm told our throuple is back. They won't nest for awhile but since the office is basically empty they may choose the site again
 
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