I've had a male/female pair of hooded mergansers hanging around down at my farm pond for 3-4 weeks now. A friend made and installed a nesting box earlier this spring, which hopefully the female is using. I've been reading up on these critters and it states that the male will abandon the female once she starts incubating her eggs, which can be 26-41 days. They then tumble out of the nest within 24 hours and . Has anyone observed a clutch hatch out to chicks? I'm thinking the hen should be about ready to sit on her eggs soon and will be sad to see the male take off...they are so sweet floating around together.
