Project: Statewide Wildlife Areas
County: Multiple
By Mike Alaimo, Lead AWA Volunteer
March 15, 2020
With the spring rain and strong southern winds, the southeast portion of the state has seen the arrival of robins, red wings, cranes, a surge in geese and now turkey vultures. It cannot be too long and we will start seeing our divers and puddlers.
If not done already, wood duck boxes need tending. This is a great time to take youth, friends and family out to check and clean boxes.
In February, the Paradise Valley AWA team checked the Kincaid area and discovered very poor results. For some reason, the hens are not returning and/or other species are taking a foothold. Rome Pond WA will soon be available, but two easily accessible boxes had 100% success so far.
On a sadder note, our Mud Lake (Lake Mills Wildife Area) tanked, literally. Out of four boxes, one remained. The rest are submerged. The one left was a classic egg dump of Woodies and Hoodies. It is very suspicious that we had so many hardware issues in one season, especially after bolstering them last year. But, one never knows what can happen in a year.
Jim Freck showing off the interior of a nesting box at Jackson Marsh in March 2020
I cannot end on a sour note. Mike Depies and team saw better use last season of their Jackson Marsh Wildlife Area boxes. They had eleven out of nineteen boxes with success, and one somewhat egg dump. This is up from previous years. Nesting tube success still remains at zero, but hopefully the ducks find them one of these seasons.
Visit our Adopt A Wildlife Area page for more information on this program.