J Porter's Project

My project was to build and install six wood duck nesting boxes on Arkabutla Reservoir. These boxes were built according to plans from Ducks Unlimited.

In numerous places, it is hard for wood ducks to find a suitable nesting site, so by installing these boxes, it attracts wood ducks to the area. Also, these ducks only nest in cavities such as holes in trees caused by lightning or fire. This is why the nesting boxes are so important because wood ducks do not nest on the ground like other ducks.


The boxes were built of cypress and mounted on galvanized poles
The boxes were built at my house and transported to Arkabutla and installed.


Because wood ducks are so territorial, the boxes were installed at least 600 feet apart to ensure they are not visible to one another. As an added precaution, the nesting boxes are placed 30-150 feet from shoreline if installed on water, to protect the nesting hens from predators.

The project was completed between 02/26/08 and 03/15/08 and took 124 total man-hours to complete.

Materials cost around $250, some of which was donated by the Corps of Engineers.