6 eH BerASU' DU BOING BU EA BN 
THE CASE OF THE 
WILY WOOD DUCK > 
by MARILYN CAMPBELL 
Chief Naturalist, 
Vermilion County 
Conservation District, 
Wesiville, Ill. 
This spring I received a call about 
an “unusual, large bird’ which was 
reported to be nesting in a chim- 
ney of an abandoned farm house. 
The caller had not seen the bird 
himself, but judging from his 
friend’s description, he thought it 
might be a “crane.” He remem- 
bered having seen many such birds 
along the north fork of the Ver- 
milion River when he was a boy. 
Although I did not expect to 
find anything too unusual, arrange- 
ments were made to visit the nest 
site early the following morning, 
April 20. We arrived at the house, 
located northwest of Milford, in 
Iroquois County, Ill. at about 7:30 
a.m. There appeared to be no 
activity around the area. 
The house had been partially 
dismantled when the nest was dis- 
covered. The owner, interested in 
the bird, stopped further demoli-. 
tion until the eggs could be 
hatched. The chimney topped a 
high, wood-shingled roof, and was 
accessible only by a dilapidated 
ladder which had afewrungs miss- 
ing. 
While I waited outside, the 
caller went inside and knocked on 
the second-story chimney. Out flew 
a female Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). 
She called excitedly, and flew 
southwest toward a wooded creek 
about a mile distant. My curiosity 
was aroused: I proceeded to climb 
“My curiosity was aroused by the report 
of a ‘large, unusual bird’ nesting in the 
chimney — accessible only by a dilapi- up to observe and photograph the 
dated ladder ...” nest. After inching my way uncer- 
