A quick update on the duck boxes at the house. I knew that box #2 was probably getting close to fledging young so I didn't want to bother them but as I was walking along Jabish Brook checking out warblers I noticed a female fly out of box #2 so I decided to quickly check the box and was pleasantly surprised to find the box full of recently hatched out Hooded Merganser chicks making lots of peeping noises. I took a few photos and then quickly closed the box back up. The chicks looked ready to fledge either by the end of the day today or tomorrow. They are damn cute chicks for sure. I was going to double check the camera mounted at the bottom of the box but didn't want to stick around the area. I knew the Hooded Merganser would still be sitting on eggs in duck box #1 so I didn't check (this box is about a week or so behind box #2). Duck box #3 still contains a large number of eggs but it looks like they are abandoned so I may remove the eggs soon. Not sure what happened to the bird that laid all the eggs and then never settled in to incubate. The eggs have been moved a few times so some waterfowl has entered the box but given the amount of time the eggs have been out they are almost certainly not viable. Hopefully I will be able to add some video of the ducklings leaving the nest soon provided the camera works.
Besides the Hooded Mergansers the yard was quite productive today with a number of migrants and resident birds (including a number of banded Black capped Chickadees). I also had an unusual for spring western subspecies of Palm Warbler in the evening.
After the influx of birds at the end of the first week of May, weather conditions slowed migration down once again with cool weather and strong northerly winds continuing through today. This pattern looks to finally change on Thursday and I suspect there will be another large influx to end out the week...time will tell.
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