Wood Duck Nesting Box Project 

By Norman Giles

With the completion of our Natural Resource Inventory (NRI), there shows a specific need for nesting sites for our visiting wood duck population. Wood duck have been observed 14 times over the duration of the NRI, with a total of 69 wood duck being counted. Although wood duck are not a migratory bird in New Jersey, we consider our population to be migratory, simply due to fact they are all visitors and not abundant year round at Ironwood.

By providing suitable nesting sites, It is hoped that breeding pairs may be encouraged to raise their young on-site and hopefully stay year round.

The nest boxes were constructed using plans available online for free. The boxes are located approx. 60ft from the creek bank with the bottom of the box 10ft* off the ground.

Materials:

• Eastern red cedar off-cuts
• All brass hardware
• Deck sealer mixed w/mineral oil
• Sawdust
• Landscape fabric/corrugated mesh
• Gorilla glue
• 3/4" plywood

Special Thanks to Mr. Norman Giles for taking the time to build these boxes for Ironwood.

* Wood ducks typically nest anywhere from 3ft to 60ft off the ground. 10ft allows us easier access to inspect the boxes and maintains sufficient flood depth height (8ft in 2004)