A Trip to the Wetlands

The plan was simple. Larry and Katy would put on chest-high waders and wade out to the current wood duck nesting box to take it down. Jill would take the row boat from the other side of the wetlands and (with one paddle) meet them and put the nesting box in the boat. Then they would row to an area of the wetlands that was less dense and install the nesting box there, hoping to increase the chance of the wild wood ducks using it. It was a simple plan, and I decided to interrupt my days work to go along and take video just in case Jill fell out of the boat or Larry’s waders had a hole in it. Those things did not happen, but things did not go according to plan, and I was not disappointed I went.

The launch of the boat was tricky. Jill had to skillfully, and with one paddle, launch between two of the board walk beams. It was a tight fit, but she made it without event.

I followed Larry and Katy and took some unwelcome pictures as they struggled into their chest-high waders (they are quite awkward to fit into). Larry’s journey was made more difficult by the softball cleverly hidden in his.



As Katy and Larry waded out in their waders without holes, they were shortly joined by Jill who had not yet fallen out of the boat. So far so good. When they got to the nesting box it was suggested that they open it before removing it and putting it in the boat. Upon opening the box, a hypothesis was formed as to why the wood ducks were not so eager to nest there. Brave Larry investigates:

Needless to say, Operation: Nesting Box Relocation was called off due to raccoon. Plans are in the works to build a new raccoon-proof nesting box for the wood ducks (they won’t use a box that has a raccoon scent on it). So even though the trip was not successful for giving the wood ducks a nesting box, it was successful for giving us all a good story (even though Jill didn’t fall out of the boat, which would have made for a much better story).

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