On Fri, 13 Nov 1998, D. Daily wrote:

>
[snip..]


> A friend of mine has a ten year old son who needs to do an
> interview as part of a school project. He has chosen to
> interview me on the topic of woodducks.
>
hmm-mmmm...well, this might be the time to ask this
question:

some birder friend told me that wooducks will
lay eggs communally..even up to 50 eggs in one
box(nest) anyone corroborate that?

I have observed that on a pond belonging to a friend
who birds actively, when there are ducklings the
Mallard hen is right there with her brood 'til they
are substantial in size...the wooducklings, however,
steam around on their own without the hen anywhere
around..it's sort of interesting..the Mallard ducklings
never get more than 20 or 30 feet away from their
mother...


Tom