Although nesting boxes are intended primarily for wood ducks, other species of wildlife will also find them attractive for homes. Possible users include owls, kestrels, woodpeckers, hooded mergansers and even a honeybee swarm or two. All are part of the wildlife scene in the Missouri wetlands. A dozen eggs is an average clutch. Incubation is about 32 days.
Ducklings leave the box immediately after hatching.
Free falls of up to 40 feet apparently do them no harm. First flight is at about nine weeks. One brood per year is normal, but two broods can occur in southern Missouri. Early foods are primarily insects, but later these ducks eat vegetable foods. They winter in the lower Mississippi Valley.