Mallard Ducks
Posted by Wendy Battersby-Quaglia on June 2, 2007
Q: I am so distraught. A female mallard made a nest behind our air conditioner compressor. She had approximately 8 or so eggs and she was incubating them. I did not see her yesterday but this morning my husband heard quacking. We checked again this evening and the nest is totally empty, no broken eggs, no blood no eggs, no mother duck. What on earth could have happened. There were no footprints either. I am so upset that something bad happened. Thank you for your help!
State: New Jersey
A: We've had several people report similar events this spring. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that a Coyote has found the nest and removed the eggs. Coyotes will often remove multiple pieces of food to a "safe" location for eating and this may be why there are no eggshells left behind. Most predators aren't large enough to carry the eggs away so must eat them at the nest location. I realize that most people never see Coyotes since they're most active at night, but they're quite common in suburban areas throughout the East.
I suppose someone could have robbed the nest or maybe even some large dog but this seems unlikely. I know it's upsetting when something like this happens but there's a good chance your duck will simply renest elsewhere. Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( June 3, 2007)