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Frank Bellrose and the Wood Ducks

April 26, 2021
Well-designed birdboxes bring them back from the brink!
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Closeup of male Wood Duck in breeding plumage, showing his bottle green long head feathers, white neck ring and bright red eye Expand Image
© Rick Leche Photography / FCC

In the 1800s, Wood Ducks were possibly the most abundant ducks east of the Mississippi. But the draining of wetlands, the cutting of forests, and market hunting caused precipitous declines. In 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act completely banned the hunting of Wood Ducks for 23 years. This protection - and the concern of dedicated individuals like Frank Bellrose - helped bring the Wood Duck back. Learn how to build the predator-proof nesting box that Bellrose designed, at Ducks.Org.

Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy, with online courses that share the wonder and joy of birds. More at AllAboutBirds.org.

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BirdNote®

Frank Bellrose and the Wood Ducks

Written by Todd Peterson

This is BirdNote.

[Call of the Wood Duck]
The drake Wood Duck is perhaps the most beautiful of all North American ducks. His Latin name means dressed in finery ready for his wedding. Yet the Wood Duck once seemed threatened with extinction.
[Call of the Wood Duck]
In the 1800s, they were possibly the most abundant ducks east of the Mississippi. But the draining of wetlands, the cutting of forests [Sound of a tree falling] and market hunting caused precipitous declines. In 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act completely banned the hunting of Wood Ducks for 23 years. This protection and the concern of dedicated individuals brought the Wood Duck back.
[Call of the Wood Duck]
Frank Bellrose was preeminent among those advocates. He became fascinated by the birds, while canoeing the Illinois River as a young man in the 1930s.
[Slap of water against a canoe. Sound of canoe paddle in water.]
Bellrose went on to study them for more than 50 years. His intimate knowledge of their ecology helped him invent a predator-proof nesting box that is now a mainstay of Wood Duck conservation.
We take care of what we value, what we devote ourselves to knowing. And one person’s dedication can make a crucial difference, as it did with Frank Bellrose and the Wood Ducks he loved.
[Call of the Wood Duck] 

I’m Mary McCann.

Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy, with online courses that share the wonder and joy of birds. More at All About Birds dot org.


                                                                               ###
Sounds of Wood Duck provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org          April 2014/2021     Narrator: Mary McCann

ID# SotB-WODO-01-2011-04-15     

Todd Peterson
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Tags: habitat protection, nesting, State of the Birds, fresh water

Related Resources

Read more about Frank Bellrose How to make a Wood Duck nest boxLearn more about Wood Ducks on All About Birds

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Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Aix sponsa

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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