A Team of Volunteers Revives Nest Box Program on Hart Miller Island!
Together with volunteers from Ducks Unlimited and MWDI, employees from Constellation Energy / BGE Home construct and install horizontal wood duck nest boxes on Hart Miller Island with hopes of breathing new life into a starling-infested project!

Click here to read more about it.

A Team of Volunteers Creates BEST PRACTICES at Chapman State Park!
Friends of Chapman State Park to Take Over Monitoring.
A Win-Win for the Wood Ducks!

North Caroline High School (NCHS) to Sponsor
Wood Duck Project at Martinak State Park

Lisa Anderson, NCHS Biology Teacher, has initiated a school project that will involve approximately 9 wood duck boxes situated in various areas in the Martinak State Park and along the Choptank River. MWDI has provided Lisa with several boxes, predator guards, poles and related hardware although her students have built 5 boxes (and several bluebird houses) to get started. Lisa obtained approval and the assistance of Paul Detrick, Park Manager. Paul, along with Cliff Brown of MWDI inspected the various placement sites and habitat on October 27 after a meeting at NCHS to deliver materials and discuss the project particulars with Lisa and some of her students.

The area has excellent habitat as confirmed by various wood duck observations during the tour and a successful program is expected. All the boxes can be accessed on foot and inspected without ladders, requiring a short walk from each parking area. Lisa and the students hope to install the boxes before year end.
 

On June 18, Aaron Ward represented MWDI at the Junior Hunter Field Day in Somerset County,  sponsored by the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources Wildlife & Heritage Service.

Aaron introduced the kids to wood duck habits, habitats and their successful use of artificial nesting programs. Over 70 kids took part in a day of fun learning and experiencing outdoor activities. Kids and parents alike were able to view and touch a successful Wood Duck nest hatch.

A special thanks to Aaron!

MWDI was once again assisted during nest inspections at Jug Bay - Patuxent State Park (PSP) by Dept of Recreation interns Amy, Colby and Catherine as well as by Greg Kearns, PSP Head Naturalist, and David Dickson, US Navy.

Data collected thus far indicates a strong year at Jug Bay. In 2009, an estimated 923 ducklings were produced from 99 functional boxes versus 617 from 94 boxes in 2010. This decline was partially explained by some under counting but, with stable habitat, the drop was perplexing.
 

At Chesapeake Farms, Dupont's conservation property in Kent County, MWDI was helped by Brittany Hulbert, recent Washington College grad and head of the school's Ducks Unlimited Chapter. Brittany had a very unique encounter discovering a banded dead hen alongside a successful hatch. Apparently, the first year female was a very unwelcomed visitor and paid the price!

Robert W. Baird & Co., an international investment advisory company with regional offices in Towson, MD, sponsors a nationwide community service day for its employees. On May 23, 2011, two local representatives, Joe McCann and Bill offered to spend their day assisting Cliff Brown at Maryland DNR's Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Charles Co.

Joe and Bill inspected several nest boxes, removed several others and installed 6 new boxes in the
Seven Ponds segment of the WMA.

Monitoring the old boxes required a boat and tall ladder located in converted gravel pits - a time-consuming practice that contributed to a relative lack of resource management. The new boxes are now all readily accessible from an adjacent roadway requiring only a short walk. The side door style boxes do not need ladders to inspect as well. A successful wood duck and a hooded merganser hatch were observed in the old boxes along with a failed wood duck nest and a failed hooded nest. It was also necessary to breech partially a beaver dam that had inundated the roadway, temporarily preventing our access to certain sites. DNR provided the use of an aluminum boat and trolling motor.

Kudos to Joe and Bill, who have also agreed to monitor the site annually, with three additional boxes are likely to be installed in the near future.

Once again, Maret High School in Washington DC assembled wood duck boxes as part of the school's Community Service Day. 12 students each assembled one box and, as can be seen, customized them in a very "woods friendly" manner. Special thanks to Bob Fergerson, Maret's Art and Crafts instructor, for his support and assistance.
 

Aaron Ward and his son Tim volunteered to cut lumber and assemble wood duck nest boxes for MWDI's recent sale to private land owners.
 

Sudlersville Elementary
School Environmental Club

 
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On March 29, 2011 MWDI volunteer Steve Seningen, Sudlersville Elementary School Enrichment Teacher Alison Vooris, and Jackie Sweetak, owner of the Sweetak Farm near Crumpton, hosted an educational field experience for fourteen 4th and 5th grade students, members of the Sudlersville Elementary School Environmental Club. Read more...
 

MWDI Box Building Event
National Hunting & Fishing Day 2010

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Once again, MWDI hosted a youth oriented box building event at MD DNR's National Hunting & Fishing Day at Schrader's Bridgeton Manor in Henderson on September 25th. More than 30 boys and girls assembled (and decorated!) 20 wood duck boxes that MWDI will utilize in various sites across Maryland. Special thanks to Patti Allen and DNR for making the space available and to MWDI's John Chew and Jerry McCarty for assisting Cliff Brown in supervising the event. Read more..
 

New Wood Duck Nest Box Program
5th and 6th grade science class at Indian Head Elementary School (IHES)

The 5th and 6th grade science class at Indian Head Elementary School (IHES) is starting a wood duck program, initiated and mentored by Tim Emhoff, their Science Resource Teacher. This program is another step in IHES' move to become a certified Maryland Green School.  Read more...
 

Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden
Gets New Wood Duck Nest Box
Built by Maret School Students

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Cliff Brown, Executive Director of MWDI, with assistance from DNR staff Jay Myers and Linda Wiley, removed two old non-functional boxes that had become overgrown with vegetation and installed a new box in the wetland pond in the Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden on September 15, 2010. The box was assembled by The Maret School's Upper School students as one of several they made in conjunction with their 2009 Community Service Day.  Read More...
 

A Look Back at Summer 2010

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2010 Lumber Cut Day

On February 22nd, 15 MWDI volunteers cut up a record 265 wood duck kits and 49 bluebird house kits at MD DNR’s Millington WMA field office in Kent Co. We also delivered 825 linear feet of cypress lumber to J. M. Tawes School in Somerset Co. to make another 75 assembled wood duck boxes for sale to private program sponsors this fall.  Read More...

2009 Wetlands & Wildlife Field Day

On September 22nd and 23rd Aaron Ward, volunteer with the Maryland Waterfowlers Association and Maryland Wood Duck Initiative, gave a presentation on the Wood Duck to all Somerset County 4th graders. This event was hosted by the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service Wellington office. Read more...

Ducks Unlimited Efforts On Fort Meade
Succeed For 3rd Year In A Row!

The results are in! 68 Wood Duck eggs hatched this year on Fort Meade! For the 3rd year in a row, members of the General George G. Meade Chapter of Ducks Unlimited have had success in hatching Wood Duck eggs on Fort Meade. Meta Shaw, the project Chairperson and COL Robert Shaw can be found walking through the swampland on Fort Meade with their Chocolate Lab, “Mocha” almost every weekend.  Read more...

Mark Salvaggio contacted MWDI about earning his Eagle Scout rank in September 2007 after reviewing our website. While MWDI provided some lumber and supplies, Mark expanded the scope and fully embraced all managerial aspects of the project. Mark obtained additional lumber and material donations, coordinated the 120 volunteer hours of 20 scouts from this Columbia, Maryland-based Boy Scout Troop 617, and delivered 43 of the best constructed cedar boxes we have been given. Mark's team also developed specialized jigs which will be very useful for future MWDI box building events. Read the complete story.
 

MWDI, Ducks Unlimited, & HSBC USA
Volunteers Making a Difference
21 Volunteers Cut 2,500+ Board Feet of Cedar at Stevens Tools in Annapolis
RESULTS: More than 350 wood duck boxes will be created from these efforts!
Read More About It...
 

Radcliffe Creek School students are
discovering the "Total Wetland Experience"

MWDI Director Cliff Brown teaches students at Radcliffe Creek School in Kent County about wood duck nesting habits and egg identification.

The Radcliffe Creek School students operate a 2-box program on the wetland just behind their classrooms.

Volunteer Aaron Ward holds up a hooded merganser egg found in a wood duck nest box, along with others, at the EA Vaughan WMA.

On March 20th, Bob Petizon, Sal Simoncini, Vince DeSantis, and Roger Williamson volunteered at the Sheehan-Audubon Sanctuary to support a new MWDI-supported 10-box program.

Carla Porter making predator guard mounts at Steven's Tool Shop.