Wood duck box gratitude

[Fishing With Larry]

Hey Guys,

Many of you might remember a month back when Old Soldier posted that the Capital Chapter of OHA had 100 Wood duck boxes to give away. I had a terrible delima, in that I had wanted to get new boxes up before the nesting season but needed to get a new shoulder and needed surgery right when the boxes were ready. Old Soldier made some calls and several of the guys from the Yamhill Chapter of OHA came out to the house and put up four new boxes while I watched.

My back forty consists of about a 1/2 mile of creek bottom that produces a lot of wood ducks.



There had been dozens of boxes put up over the years and they were needing to be replaced. This is one of the old boxes. One of these boxes recently fell to the ground where we identified a stamped tag on the front that read "Eagle Scout Project 1978, McMinnville Troop Nest box #18" They were 30 years old. I was able to do a search on the name on the tag and found that person is now a troop leader in Southern Oregon. I found an email address and emailed him and got the whole story. It appears that he replaced the boxes thirty years ago and this will now be a third generation of boxes along the creek. I want to say thanks to him and all who helped from the Capital and Yamhill Chapters of OHA including Chapter leaders Old Soldier (Joe) and John Gander. This Eagle Scout project thirty years ago no doubt provided for the birds that I see using the creek below the house on a regular basis. It is my hope that these boxes along with more that I intend to put up when I am feeling better will provide nesting for generations to come.



You can see several boxes in the distance. One box has already been staked out by a pair of Woodies.



Another view of some of the boxes with an old one mixed in.



Hopefully this tree will survive the beaver that has been working over the base.



There he is on my walk back and no gun to get him! Looks like I need to plant some willows to keep them away from the big trees.



Thanks again OHA. I truly appreciate your help.

[No Fences]

That's awesome. Just goes to show what Ifish is about. I remember building a bunch for an 8th grade report and puting them up in Dayton. That was 22 yrs ago.

[Bait O' Eggs]

Hi Amity neighbor O.M.C.

Looks like from the pics your on the other side of the highway from my place is my guess.

Do you have an ifish sticker on your truck back window?

I was at the Mac Water Reclamation Facility last evening, and the wood ducks were dropping into the treatment plant one after another. I was told by one of the operators its not uncommon for a couple hundred wood ducks to be in the various clarifiers and ponds.

[riversledder]

Thats awesome!!!!
Can I make a suggestion based on the pictures. I put up several boxes last year out here near Sheridan. And got more this year. ( a big thanks to Old soldier also )
Last year I put them on trees and had good activity , but lost most nests to preditors.( raccoons) A nest box on a tree with no predator guard is a death trap. Not only doom for the nest, but they will get the hen also.
The boxes I have on trees now have a wrap of smooth tin around them to keep critters off the tree. I had to move one box that had other trees close becuase they will come in from other close trees.
Not trying to be critical, just passing on my experiences and what I learned from those in the know!!!
I put most of the boxes this year on metal posts over water. One went on a power pole, but you can see I did a metal wrap to keep the little masked bandits way.
Riversledder

[Old Soldier]

Thanks onemovecharlie!!

Remember the Capitol Chapter will be makeing about 100 again next February. Watch the OHA calendar or contact Capitol Chapter about it and plan on bringing young people to help build them. They are a great eagle scout project so if you have one coming up next year consider this.

I hope we see more posts on the results from the other IFISHERS that picked up boxes. To be honest I think we could have given away another 100 from the responds we got from all of you. What a great bunch of people on this forum.

[Fishing With Larry]

If anyone knows where to get some old 1 1/2" - 2" steel pipe, that is what I would like to use but didn't know where to get it. I've heard alot about the predador problems but I don't see any evidence in the previous boxes. I'm completely willing to put up guards or put more boxes on steel if anyone knows where I can get my hands on some used pipe.

[riversledder]

I got a few old well pipe sections from Cherry City recycle in Salem if that helps. They have a ton of metal and poles etc at that place.