I have been waiting intently for the two boxes of Hooded Mergansers to fledge and I figured the first box would have fledged by Tuesday but when I went to check the box I was surprised to flush the female off the nest as I opened the box and find a large group of hatched out chicks just waiting to fledge. I took a quick photo and then closed everything back up. I suspect they were just hours away from leaving the nest and I will check the camera in a few days for video of them leaving the nest box.
I then checked box 2 and found very freshly hatched mergansers under a warm coating of down. Going by when the eggs were laid in this box I suspected this nest would fledge a few days after box 1 and this looks to be the case. I will check back on this box in a few days to see if they have moved out of the box.
No comments:
Post a Comment