South Carolina Waterfowl Association

You Can Help Our Receding Wetlands

Managing for the Wood Duck

Wood Duck Ecology

Pricing for the Wood Duck Production Project

Boy Scout Waterfowler

New Projects Wanted!

Not a member of the Wood Duck Production Project? Do you have wetlands suitable for wood ducks? If you are interested in increasing your local wood duck populations, contact SCWA and let us know you need nest boxes. Boxes are available individually or through different membership levels.

For more information contact Stuart Cochran

Stuart Cochran - Lead Waterfowl Biologist - SCWA

Office: 803-452-6001 ext. 103

Cell: 803-600-7420

Email: scochran@scwa.org

HELP!

We Need People To Install Nest Boxes

South Carolina Waterfowl Association (SCWA) has always been a leader when it comes to installing, maintaining and servicing wood duck boxes. For more than 20 years we have done this mostly through hired technicians and biologists which install boxes in the fall/winter and check them in the spring/summer. This system works well for landowners who are to busy to do it themselves. We are still doing this but we would now like to provide each of our chapters with 20 nest box units to install, check and maintain on their own. Our goal is to install wood duck boxes in areas where they would not have otherwise been installed.

In the past only two or three of our chapters around the state have utilized these boxes. The Kingstree chapter has put up around 100 boxes in the past few years. We would now like to encourage each chapter to install nest boxes in local areas where the boxes would get the highest occupancy. These locations can be private or public but need to be in good wood duck habitat. Such places include but are not limited to beaver ponds, swamps, fish ponds and lakes. Each chapter needs to keep record of where each box was placed and the boxes need to be checked each year. The data that is collected from these boxes needs to be sent back to SCWA headquarters where it can be used in the overall production numbers for the entire state.

Some chapters have designated “Wood Duck” chairmen but most do not and that is where you come in. I need people who have the time to install these boxes as well as initiative to find quality sites in which to put them. Many of the large reservoirs throughout the state have backwater sloughs in which wood ducks would readily nest. These are areas in which both the private landowner and the public water duck hunter would benefit. I plan on meeting with each chapter individually to discuss placement, installation techniques and nest checking procedures. If you are interested in getting involved with the volunteer wood duck box program please contact your local chapter chairman. The list of chapter chairman can be found in the Events Section of the website.