# Nesting birds



## fieldgeneral (Feb 12, 2013)

I don't think I have ever seen birds still on nests this late. I may be wrong. Mallards will be hard to pick out in the field this year on opener I would imagine.


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## poutpro (Mar 8, 2006)

Mallards shouldn't be difficult to pick out, but distinguishing hen from drake may be challenging.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

I have never seen so many small ducks at the end of July. There are some normal size broods but most of the hatch is very late. I believe that the canada hatch is behind also. The up side is the younger the bird the better eating it is.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

I was clipping some weeds in CRP last week and darned if I didn't hit a mallard nest. Must have been her third or fourth try.


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## fieldgeneral (Feb 12, 2013)

Unbelievable how late birds are nesting this year! If we had some normal heat, I would think that would be hard on the hens laying there on that nest while it would be 90+.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

Lots of water means lots of renesting attempts when mama mallard's eggs get predated. What you're seeing is a good thing! It means there is ample habitat around for her to attempt multiple Mulligans when *****, fox, mink, et. al. raid her little ones.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

When mowing ditches, hayland, or alfalfa, you get to see a lot of birds nesting at different stages and very close to each other. I have mowed over nests in early August before.


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## tilley (Jul 28, 2011)

That's great blhunter. How many months of the year have you mowed over nests? I know you listed June and July and now August but anything in May ever? You are definitely the nest mowing champion around here. It would be interesting if you could list the various species and the corresponding months that you mowed the nests off. maybe like an excel spreadsheet or something.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

When the alfalfa and hay is ready and there is no rain in the forecast you go mow.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

At least in my area, I believe the nests got flooded out. We had 2 floods and a major rain in a months time. Every time it flooded the CRP in this area went under water for 4-5 days as did any nests there. I had a brood of ducks cross the road yesterday and they still had fuzz on them........ It pretty much whiped out the turkey nesting here. We had 60-80 hens in town when breeding started. While many relocated out of town to nest out of all those hens I have only seen 2 with poults and even those with only a couple.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

dakotashooter2 said:


> At least in my area, I believe the nests got flooded out. We had 2 floods and a major rain in a months time. Every time it flooded the CRP in this area went under water for 4-5 days as did any nests there. I had a brrod of ducks cross the road yesterday and they still had fuzz on them........ It pretty much whiped out the turkey nesting here. We had 60-80 hens in town when breeding started. While many relocated out of town to nest out of all those hens I have only seen 2 with poults and even those with only a couple.


It's true that a few duck nests get flooding in extremely wet conditions, but the idea that more water has an overall negative effect on ducks is a fallacy. The truth is, lots of water means lots of habitat and more reason for mama mallard to renest every time she loses a clutch, be it from weather conditions or predation.

Now turkeys and pheasants I don't know about, but I do know ducks fare much better the wetter it is.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

In general lots of water is good for duck production however repeated flooding of nesting sites can be as bad as predation and later brood production also can mean lower survival rate, specially when you get further north. I'm not implying that the flooding effected production statewide but there are some indications it may have affected localized areas like mine.

I also mentioned the turkeys. In a normal year we are seeing 3 brood sizes along my community. This year due to the flooding we are only seeing 1 and even those are small and few and far between.


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