One of the most beautiful North American birds is the male wood duck. And at this time of the year the secretive and less colorful females are quietly sitting on their eggs hidden from view in tree hollows close to water … or here at the Inn in a specially constructed wood duck nest box. One of the remarkable sights of nature is to see the wood duck flying at full speed, only to suddenly brake and seamlessly dive into the small hole in the nest box. No perch and no headaches! Just yesterday we were fortunate to capture this event on a small video recorder … take a look but don’t blink!

Another unusual thing about wood ducks is the way they enter the world. Unlike most chicks that are helpless at the time of hatching, wood duck chicks are precocial … meaning that they are born in an advanced stage of maturity and “ready to go”. In fact, within hours of hatching and encouraged by the calls of the mother, wood duck chicks climb up and launch themselves into space in an amazing leap of faith … sometimes from as high as 30 or 40 feet above the ground!  The whole event is over within minutes. The Inn at Bowman’s Hill, New Hope bed and breakfast inn has several wood duck nesting boxes and each year we hope to witness the “wood duck chick launching” … it seems we may have a greater chance of winning the lottery!