I happened to be in the right place at the right time with my camera in reach when I saw a female wood duck perched atop the kestrel box out in the pasture. The male was on the fence below her, but out of the frame of the photo unfortunately. As far as I can tell this box is currently in use by a pair of kestrels, so this was really a strange thing for me to see! I don't think the kestrel box in the corral is in use, although I'm sure I'll have to start wreaking havoc on the evil starlings pretty soon, no doubt they will move in if they haven't already. I've seen tree swallows scoping out at least one of the smaller boxes, and even saw a bluebird out in the roundpen the other day.
I've been offered an incredible deal on a breeding to that Canadian stallion I talked about a few postings back. I have to give this some serious thought. Although the temptation is to say absolutely yes it would produce another great horse (aside from the canter issue, Shylah is a super duper fantastic horse and is SO easy to work with), the logical side is telling me to be very concerned about the long-term expense, particularly when business isn't exactly going "boom" and my car could go "boom" any day. I've asked for a few months to mull this over. I've always figured to have Shylah bred some day when I'm ready for another horse, but I didn't really figure that opportunity would present itself right now.
Time will tell. It always does.
I see how Kestrels can nest in that box, their babies are altricial. But ducks are precocial. They'd be popping out of that box on Day 2 or 3 and there's no water underneath it. Also, how would a big honking duck fit through that little hole? JJ
ReplyDeleteI don't think she would fit through the hole, I guess she just wanted to get an up-close view though to make sure. Wood ducks don't need to nest right over water. I know I've read something somewhere but they can walk a pretty impressive distance to get there. There is that pond right behind the back pasture and I've seen a wood duck pair out there. Also sometimes where the creek goes under the road by the mailbox. It was just *SO* weird for me to see a duck perched! I get so used to mallards! :-)
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