I know what you are thinking. Census? Doesn’t this guy realize that the census collecting process took place months ago?

Let me explain. This is a very unusual type of census. You see I am a member of the Traverse County Sportsman’s Club which is a local club that has been around for many years and contains several hundred members.

Our county is one of the least populated counties in the State of Minnesota. So to have that large of a membership speaks volumes about folks in our county and their concern for our environment and the animals and plants that inhabit it.

Since I was a biology teacher in the county for thirty-four years I’m hoping my biology classes may have helped to influence this strong interest and perhaps some of those club members may be members as a result of some learning they encountered in the life science, biology and environmental classes that I taught. This old retired teacher can only hope so. 🙂

The club does amazing things from feeding wildlife during our famous Minnesota winters, sponsoring pheasant suppers, maintaining wildlife exhibits at the local county fair, running raffles to support wildlife projects, developing and maintaining wildlife habitats throughout the county, aluminum can recycling projects and we can’t forget those wood duck houses.

Members are quick to volunteer when unexpected environmental emergencies arise. Their devotion and energies to caring for our county’s environment is inspiring to me.

But let’s get back to those wood duck houses.

I’ve been a member of the club for probably ten years now. I wasn’t a very active member until Lyle our club’s president approached me one day and suggested that I and another retired teacher take over the club’s many wood duck houses scattered around the county.

We were to maintain them and once a year do a census to determine how many of the houses were used each spring to produce a successful wood duck hatch.

That resembled research to an old science teacher like myself so I eagerly volunteered as did my fellow teacher Kenny.

The research activity quickly taught us important lessons. Never take a census until there has been a hard frost in the fall.

Why you ask? After a hard frost the blood sucking mosquitoes are dead or hibernating somewhere. The wasps that often build their nests inside the wood duck houses are no longer with us. (Wasp bites are not  enjoyable experiences!)

Often the duck nests contain eggs that did not hatch successfully. During warm weather removing those smelly, rotting duckling remains requires rubber gloves and a cloths pin for the nose. 🙁

Also wood ticks can be a problem if the census occurs too early in the fall. It is no fun spending the rest of the day and into the evening picking those annoying critters off your body. Especially if one has embedded into your skin and causes you to check for Lyme Disease symptoms for the next month. (Is that a bullseye developing around the bite or not?)

A good hard frost takes care of burning nettle and poison ivy too.

Several falls ago the weather was so uncooperative we couldn’t find a day suitable to do the census so we were forced to do our first spring census. We barely beat the Momma Woodies before they returned from their southern winter homes to lay their eggs.

The census taking folks are usually a motley crew. Since Lyle was once Wheaton’s Chief of Police he is able to get a prisoner from the local jail out from behind bars to help us. At first that made me nervous but after all the years we’ve had their assistance I’ve discovered they are people just like ourselves.

They are young and able to scale the stepladders and open the wood duck house doors to discover what secrets the house reveals. This fall our jail resident had quite a sense of humor as he pretended to fall off the stepladder as he opened the door.

We were expecting a raccoon to emerge and scamper down the ladder.

Our prisoner friend chuckled as he viewed our startled faces. 🙂  Perhaps he’ll become a stand up comic when he completes his time.

I have a very important job during the census process. I have a clipboard and a pencil and record what the man on the ladder is finding buried in the sawdust on the wood duck house floor.

This year we viewed the beginnings of a food chain and if I were teaching school I would have considered it a “teachable moment”.  In one house a half dozen eggs were cracked open and for some reason the chicks died and did not emerge.

Tiny flies laid their eggs in the rotting tissue. The eggs developed into larva and then pupa. After several days the pupa hatched into adult flies.

Spiders had built webs inside the wood duck house and the webs captured the newly hatched flies and were dined upon by the spiders.

I was excited by that observation but for some reason nobody else was. I think you would have had to be a retired biology teacher to find enjoyment in that discovery. 🙂

The most difficult part of the job is identifying what kind of egg shells remain in the houses. Wood duck and mergansers are the chief users of the houses. The merganser’s eggs are a little larger and more white while the wood duck’s eggs are greenish tan and slightly smaller.

Determining the number of chicks resulting from a hatch is pure guess work.

The 2021 census was a success. The comedic convict was a joy to get to know and work with as were the other two temporary scientists.

Now they are free to return to their normal lives while I am left with the clipboard filled with data. You see they know I like to write so they assume I would be the perfect one to write up the results for the end of the year annual report.

Sigh…….:)

Until next time.