New digs for wood ducks, screech owls on Lisgar

Lake Lisgar Revitalization Committee members Frank Kempf and Joan Weston give the wood duck and screech owl boxes a final inspection. These boxes will be erected in the north end of Lake Lisgar, near where the creek enters the lake. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

It could be said the latest effort of the Lake Lisgar Revitalization Committee is for the birds.

Always looking for ways to improve the lake’s ecosystem, the committee will be erecting four wood duck boxes and two screech owl boxes at the north end of the lake.

A brightly-coloured, medium-sized duck, wood ducks are cavity nesters, which means they like to find hollow spots in trees to set up their nests. Wood ducks boxes are meant to replicate the holes in a hollow tree.

Made of rough-cut lumber, wood duck boxes have a hole sized to allow a wood duck to access it.

“There was initially some nesting boxes at the north end, and they deteriorated, so I wanted to replace them,” said committee member Frank Kempf.

The boxes are used by more than just wood ducks, though. Mergansers will also nest in the boxes, as well as many other species of waterfowls.

The concept for screech owl boxes is a new one. These small owls are cavity nesters. The boxes are similar except the hole size is different and there are small notches cut into the surface of the screech owl boxes.

Wood for the project was donated by Townsend Lumber, and the boxes were built by the Glendale High School woodworking and construction class.

The Lake Lisgar committee is also working on its annual trout stocking of the lake. Kempf hinted there will be a good number of trout put in sometime in late May. He was also excited the water quality is good enough some trout are surviving from one year to the next.