Dr. Gary Hepp candling wood duck eggs to check for fertility.
27 Eggs were found in this box.
Dr. Hepp is Professor Emeritus, Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
This box was was a "dump" box.
Egg dumping is common in Wood Ducks where females visit other Wood Duck boxes or cavaties,
lay eggs in them, and leave them to be raised by the other female.
This may now be more common by the abundance of artificial nest boxes.
Wood Duck females typically lay 10-11 eggs per clutch, but some very full nests, such as
this one, have been found containing 29 eggs, the result of egg-dumping.
Wood Duck Heritage Preserve & Siddique Nature Park
Opelika, Alabama