Soon after hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest and make their way to the water, guided by the mother duck's calls. Wood ducks are productive egg layers compared with other duck species. After the eggs hatch, the hen leaves the nest and calls to the ducklings. This may have been made more common by the abundance and conspicuousness of artificial nest boxes; in some areas it happens in more than half of all nests. This is a live inside view of a wood duck nest box. The wood duck nests in trees near water, sometimes directly over water but other times up to a mile away. They are one of only a handful of North American ducks that build their nests in trees. Hens will typically lay between 10-15 eggs, but a nest may have up to 40 eggs. Baby Wood ducks leaving their natural nest cavity. Once they are all down with her, she leads them quickly to … Although wood ducks pair up in January and breeding happens shortly after, nest boxes can be installed any time of year. The camera is located on Holt Lake near Smithfield, North Carolina. Compelled by their mother’s call, the baby wood ducks jump from the nest — oftentimes directly into the water, but not always. Egg-dumping, or "intraspecific brood parasitism" is common in Wood Ducks—females visit other Wood Duck cavities, lay eggs in them, and leave them to be raised by the other female. The Wood Duck Society in it’s efforts to educate the public on wood ducks and the building of a safe nest box structure (bird house) for the benefit of the wood duck, in no way encourages anyone to tamper with the ducks, their eggs or nest box once it is occupied. Wood ducks leaping from their nest at their mother's call. After hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to the water. I think these are Mandarin ducks. The camera is mounted on the inside top corner of the nest box facing down. The wood duck population was in serious decline at the beginning of the 20th century because of over hunting and loss of suitable nesting sites. After the eggs hatch the ducklets will remain in the nest for up to 18 hours before jumping out. A baby wood duck that has been orphaned needs to … It’s pretty interesting…females nest in tree cavities or nesting boxes high off the ground, which provides protection from predators. Some leap as far as 50 feet and bounce when they hit the ground.