Canandaigua Lake Duck Hunters Inc.

This group is dedicated to the enhancement of waterfowl in upstate New York through habitat restoration and management programs.

The organization formed out of a concern for the lack of waterfowl on Canandaigua Lake in central New York States Finger Lakes area. This group has donated thousands of man-hours and dollars to the enhancement of wildlife habitat and study in their area of concern. Over 95% of the money raised is used for local programs, and they have no national affiliation. Since 1955 they have banded more than 48,000 ducks. They purchased a Satellite-tracking collar for $2,000.00, in conjunction with USFWS and Ducks Unlimited, they are helping to more thoroughly understand the nesting and migration habits of the Atlantic Flyway Canada Goose.

Raymond Russell Junior Duck Club - A great club happening is to furnish school children with Mallard eggs to incubate, hatch and care for, under supervision, which culminates in the realease of the ducks into the wild. "A great way to involve a large group of children. A lifetime of fond memories for these kids as well as an understanding of efforts to restore wild duck populations.

More information is available about this great group as well as how to join them or donate to their efforts.

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Riverside Retreat had babies!!

With two pairs of Wood Ducks acquired last year as ducklings from a Propagator. We built a nice aviary outside our home with a 300 gallon water tank for them to swim, splash and be Ducks. With two nesting boxes, purchased from "Wildlife Forever, placed inside with shredded junk mail for nesting material.

It seemed like they were not interested, until seeing a hen go inside and come back out. Elated that something may just happen, sure enough, nature took over and both hens started laying eggs. At first both were going into the same box and laying eggs. After the first hen started to brood, the second still went right in and laid eggs on top of her. Being concerned didn't do any good. After a week or so, she started to lay in the second box and seemed to be happy with the idea of her own nest. The two males were quite bored and patiently waited, day after day.

Then on May 20th, out they came. 13 from the first nest box. Cute little fellas. They scurried around with mom and she constantly chirped and made low sounds to keep these little guys together. The Drakes were not allowed near the little ones. Mom just chased them off and wouldn't let them near. Concern waned over their eating, this was not a problem as they grabbed at anything that was small and moved. We made a feeder for them and they grew very quickly. After three weeks they really grew into good sized ducklings.

Out came nest #2. What a melee. There just wasn't enough room for two pairs of ducks and all these little ducklings. Some were unfortunately lost from too much confusion. We quickly made a holding pen in the river out of a 50 foot piece of 1 inch chicken wire with half on the shore line and the rest in the water. We caught up the first bunch of babies and put them in this enclosure for three days until convinced they were eating well from a feeder made for them.

Off they went!! We let them go, down river they went. It was only about two days and we saw them sneaking back about dark and early in the mornings, and they brought in a wild hen with three babies of her own. We kept putting food out in the feeder for them. When the six babies from the second nest were three weeks old, we put them in the holding pen for three days too. We saw the first bunch coming to meet them and feed each day. Then we released the second bunch. A large bunch of Wood Ducks can be seen most of the time down river from us.

We have really enjoyed watching our "kids" grow up and now they are flying around in groups. To this day, now that they are flying, they fly in just about two hours before dark and come in for a feed.

We feel quite proud of our first release and it was a wonderful opportunity to put something back into the wild for others to enjoy and to further reproduce in the coming years.

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