Well, all the hype about my study about PT nymphs and flashback material is over. I posted a link to the paper in the Facebook Nor Coast Flyfishing and got some good, positive responses. Of course a friend made some comments and I took them as attacking my study, replied personally, and thankfully my friend is more mature than me. I could have lost a friend over the post, and that would be too sad.
I have been talking to Louise at the Pine Cove Marina about Wood Ducks. I haven’t seen them in a couple of years, and she agreed. Evidently there was a Forest Service worker who put up duck boxes and monitored them for years. Louise once helped check the boxes and band the adults. The researcher retired and the boxes haven’t been used for a couple of years. I decided that I would find them and work on / with them. Evidently the boxes need 4 inches of cedar shavings, not too fine or the ducklings can’t get out of it after hatching. The eggs are insulated by the cedar shavings.
Over the years, predators raided the nests. So, the Forest Service put inverted cones on the poles holding the boxes. As I found 11 Wood Duck boxes, some were not on poles and looked very new. Louise asked the Forest Service worker who maintains the fish cages at the marina, and she stated that only the pole / boxes were “theirs”, and the “Box Only” sites may be BLM. She also stated that they discovered 5 new Wood Duck boxes in storage at their station.
So, I have hiked in the local woods for 5 hours over 4 days. After an hour I’m exhausted and can’t go on. Why would I do this? Screech Owls love Wood Duck Boxes. Walking in the woods to find the boxes, I found fantastic Screech Owl habitat, with many, many oak trees with cavities for roosting and nesting. I have plans to find Screech Owls if they are present, and to study them to supplement my M.S. thesis research.
Never too old to do stuff a second time.
Tight Lines!