Coming in hot!
Video from a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources trail camera is Example A of the, uh, flight of wood ducklings this time of year.
Upon closer inspection of the trailcam video in Cass County on the Minnesota DNR Fish & Wildlife page, it's the hen's young that are seen dropping into the scene and onto the forest floor around her before becoming clearly into view and gathering up. At their age, flying isn't an option.
According to Audubon, ducklings will remain in their nests — some in tree cavities as high as 65 feet — until the morning after hatching. Then, they'll claw their way to the entrance and jump for it. Many conservation-minded Minnesotans are known to put up artificial nesting boxes for wood ducks all over the state to aid the waterfowl.
None of the ducklings in the DNR video seem worse for wear.
The DNR post said the wood duck hen is outfitted with telemetry equipment, so researchers can track her and her brood. Biologists continue to study wood ducks' preferences in nesting trees (hens will lay 10 to 15 eggs in the spring), which wetlands they target, and overall how successful they are at nesting and rearing their young year to year. The young begin flying in eight to nine weeks.
