tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27055376.post8564775742579103977..comments2024-03-28T21:51:26.408-04:00Comments on Tails of Birding: Hooded Merganser - Uncommon and Stunningly BeautifulChris Petrakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05637163831402534158noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27055376.post-60293379279358490952008-06-11T12:41:00.000-04:002008-06-11T12:41:00.000-04:00A wonderful and informative post! Thank you. I hav...A wonderful and informative post! Thank you. <BR/><BR/>I have questions about my own nesting box that I put up last Fall, with DOUBLE success. I do indeed, have a wood duck hen AND a hooded merganser hen in the same box. I can't really call it "sharing". The Hooded Merganser leaves the nest every morning around 5:00. She is gone for at least 1/2 hour, sometimes more. When she returns, she swims in front of the box, sits on a log watching the box, flies AT the box, sits some more, and eventually flies off. I don't know when she returns, but I do see her exit the nest in the mornings. <BR/><BR/>The wood duck, I rarely see. I unintentionally scared her from the nest once, so I know that she is there, too. This morning, while the merganser was away, I saw the wood duck return, fly at the nest a couple of times, then fly in. Afterward, the hoodie started her ritual of watching, waiting, attacking the box, leaving.<BR/><BR/>Has this behavior ever been explained? How do they manage to do this and how will they keep their chicks separate, once they hatch?<BR/><BR/>I live in southern Minnesota, close to the Mississippi, with a pond behind my house. Every year, we have at least 12 pairs of Hoodies!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05911910468129364895noreply@blogger.com