Nesting — Feathered friends get 'extreme home makeover'

By Ray Grass
Deseret Morning News

FARMINGTON BAY BIRD REFUGE — In a single day, roughly 100 volunteers remodeled about 150 existing homes and built another 50 new homes — for ducks and geese.


Keith Johnson, Deseret Morning NewsRyan Page, left, and Todd Bangerter, with the Utah Airboat Association, bring fresh straw to pack onto a goose nesting platform during a service project in the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area with the Utah Airboat Association.

Within the next month, most should be occupied and, shortly thereafter, become home to whole families ... away from skunks and raccoons and foxes, something their less-fortunate neighbors are forced to contend with.

The restoration/home building project was a joint effort by the Utah Airboat Association and the Utah and Delta Waterfowl associations.

It involved refurbishing roughly 100 "nesting boxes" for ducks and about 50 nesting platforms for geese. The groups also built another 50 new nests for ducks.

Both ducks and geese face a number of challenges on Utah's marshlands. The spread of "phragmites," a dense ornamental plant that is
non-native to Utah, is limiting nesting opportunities.

Both ducks and geese are being forced to nest along dikes, which are a predator's corridor.

"Which is why this project is so important," said Richard Hansen, manager of the Farmington Bay marshes for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "We don't want the ducks and geese nesting on the dikes. They have no protection at all from predators."

Predator numbers are increasing, especially the raccoon population. As a result, Utah's holdover waterfowl population is being heavily preyed upon.

Many people are under the impression that all waterfowl move north into Canada and the northern reaches of the United States to nest. Most birds do fly north in the spring and south in the fall, but a large number of ducks and geese opt to stay in Utah year-round.

Last year, the Utah and Delta waterfowl groups put out about 100 duck nests. These nests resemble large, round plastic scoops perched on long pipes. Boy Scouts working for their Eagle award built another 50 long, circular nests of wire and straw that were placed out in the marshes and will be closely monitored this year.
Keith Johnson, Deseret Morning News



Above is a goose nesting platform in the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area. Long-term studies have shown that success in the elevated nests can be as high as 80 percent, versus 0 percent to 20 percent success recorded on the ground.

Carl Taylor, a member of the Utah Waterfowl Association, explained that unlike other birds, ducks will not take building materials to a nesting site, but simply use what's available.

"So we came to refurbish the nests and stuff them with new straw to help the hens with that part of the nesting process," he said.

"The concept of these nests is to get them off the ground and away from predators, so they can't get to the eggs. And yes, ducks do use these nests, believe it or not. People think ducks aren't perchers, but they will perch on these nests."

Hansen said the nests were monitored last year, and about 20 percent of the 100 nests were occupied.

"Which is pretty good for the first year. You need 15 to 19 percent (nesting success) for a sustainable population, so we're there. We expect more to be used this year."

Taylor explained that ducks will swim up to the nest, then fly up and back down a couple of times. By the second or third try they are usually in the nest and ready to settle in. Once inside, they will scratch around, move the straw to their liking, and nest.

"It's interesting to see the ducks once they settle in. They'll fly down, fold their wings and fly right into the hole," he added.

The airboats have been coming to the marshes for about 14 years setting up goose nests, which are an elevated platform placed in shallow water with three bails of straw stacked on top. Most all of the goose nests are used.

Again, the idea behind the platform is to get the geese and eggs out of harm's way.

Predators are, Hansen strongly expressed, "a real serious problem."



Carl Taylor with the Utah Waterfowl Association gives instructions to other members of the Utah Airboat Association during an annual service project to build and refresh nesting boxes in conjunction with Utah Waterfowl and Delta Waterfowl.

The airboaters joined with the waterfowl groups this year to make it easier to complete the work. The airboat, which was developed here in Utah back in the 1950s, glides easily over shallow water, ice, snow and short vegetation. To try and walk to the nests through the thick mud would be nearly impossible. Even the shallow-running duck boats have trouble negotiating the marshes, which in places hold no more than a few inches of water.

Richard Johnson, president of the airboat group, said current membership is around 200.

About 20 boats showed up at Farmington Bay for the nesting program. All are of similar design — flat bottom boat, square nose and an elevated engine pushed by a propeller. The original boats used air-cooled aircraft engines. Many of the new boats are now fitted with automotive and marine engines.

Jeff Farr of Mantua showed up with his sons, Nathan and Branson, and friend Steve Hunt, and his boat for the work project. This was his seventh visit to the marshes in March to work on nests.

He said he bought the boat in 2000 and has been involved in many conservation projects, "but this is one of my favorite." A 350 Chevrolet engine that produces 400 horsepower pushes his boat. A belt reduction system makes it possible to spin a three-bladed prop at a controllable speed.

Within a two-hour period, working with the maneuverable and high-speed airboats, all of the existing nests were refurbished. The afternoon was dedicated to building and installing the 50 new duck nests.

Hansen said once birds start moving onto the nests, he will continuously monitor the sites to check on the residents and occupancy. He expects that over time all of the nests will be occupied. Last year, only mallards and gadwalls used the nests, so he will be checking this year to see if other species move in.



Ryan Page, center, stuffs straw into a duck box in the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area during a service project with the Utah Airboat Association. Straw is used each year as opposed to hay, because hay will get moldy and put eggs at risk.

Taylor said the commercial nesting boxes have been in use in the popular nesting areas since the 1990s. Long-term studies have shown that success in the elevated nests can be as high as 80 percent, versus zero to 20 percent success recorded on the ground.

If the boxes aren't refurbished each year with new straw, then he said "they become nothing more than an empty mailbox out in the marsh."

He also pointed out that the nests must be fitted with straw as opposed to hay, since hay will mold and effect the membrane and shell of the eggs.

Hansen said the Farmington nesting project is a test of sort, and that if it proves successful over the next few years it would be adapted to other marshes in Utah.

The real test, of course, will come when it comes time for ducks and geese to set up housekeeping.