How common is complete mallard nest failure?

[duckduckmoose]

Hello. So a mallard hen made a nest on a narrow sliver of garden by my front porch.

It’s been fun, but anyway she’s been incubating the nest for three weeks but bailed today. She started with 8 eggs, but this morning she looked visibly upset and flustered, and I discovered three eggs were gone, two of which seemed to have been “kicked out.” (One cracked in a dime-sized hole, the other split in two, both empty).

I had to do some outside work today, and she relocated to her “safe spot” but then (hours later) just flew off and didn’t return.

I feel bad, because I loved having the duck, and everyone in my household did their best to not scare her and respect her temporary residence.

I’m wondering if the frequency of her fly-offs during incubation (100% of the time a human walks to front door, 25% of the time the garage opens) sabotaged the eggs (she’d be gone 5-45 minutes each time), or if some event occurred overnight like a siege by an owl.

I dunno. I feel bad. I’m hoping complete nest failures aren’t unheard of? Is this bound to happen when a duck chooses—essentially—a front porch in the suburbs?

I know ducks are just birds (beautiful majestic ones, but birds); I hoped she would “learn” after a while that these massive animals with two legs don’t want to hurt her... but she kept flying away from her nest, which.... well, oh well.

The most learning she did was that, at first, a startle would send her into full Mach-1 take off to out of sight, and as time went on she would just kind of flap away about 30 feet if startled.

I hope the duck can find a new boyfriend and find a better place to nest where she can just be in peace.

 

[sourland]

Sorry about the incubation failure. My gut says that the nest was the victim of predation - very possibly by crows.

 

[duckduckmoose]

Thanks for reply. Yes, the day prior to the yesterday (upset hen and her nest abandonment), there was a large crow that walked up to our front porch walkway and was looking toward the nest. The duck stood up and stared at the crow, and it walked away and then kind of flew off to the side and moved on. There was also a blue-jay who flew to our roof gutter just above the nest while the crow was there.

I probably need to get over it, but the day the crow was there the duck had frequent back-and-forth scare-offs because I had some deliveries to the front door, and one package was left kind of near the tiny mulch strip where the nest was. While the duck would normally do her re-entry routine (which consisted of slowly walking toward her nest in a specific route, looking around, making some neck gestures, then entering), the package puzzled her and she literally stood there 15 minutes (instead of 30 seconds) and probably didn't do her proper routine. Maybe a crow she would have seen saw her entering the nest that time. I feel bad, but didn't move the package as that would have just further spooked her.

Or maybe its more complicated and there are things like scent or whatever.

Ugh. I was hoping the duck might come back to the five intact eggs, but overnight the whole nest was ravaged by something. The two cracked eggs near the nest... yesterday I wanted to move them/remove them/etc, but people I lived with suggested I let it be. I think the broken eggs were an advertisement for free overnight dining. I like wildlife in general, and I'm somewhat intrigued by exactly what went down on the front porch while people are asleep. I guess its a chilly jungle out there, and people--between their size and preference of sleeping in shelter--aren't privy to all the predators that are trouble for ducks.

Ugh, crows... in an outer-ring medium-density suburb, most "predators" are either scared off, run over by cars, or the like. But not crows. They enjoy suburban life. Nature is weird; the hen is three times the size of the crow.

LOL, I had hoped the mallard hen (or some of her female offspring) would consider our garden-bed for nesting in future years... guess that's not very likely now! We probably now have a very low rating on Duck BnB!

 

[duckduckmoose]

Very early (I think before incubation started) our pest control people doing the outdoor application sprayed the gas mist (which I believe is permethrin mixed with vegetable oil) directly down on the nest (it is invisible, so no hard feelings to exterminator). Concern here is mostly the vegetable oil coating the eggs.

Then, I discovered the lawnmowers blow their power-blowers over that place once a week. (Concern being power-blowing a small pebble and damaging the eggs).

Could either have those (especially the mosquito misting) have killed the eggs?