Ducks eating like songbirds

I took down my hopper feeder today for the season and replaced it with a Droll Yankee B-7 tube feeder. For the past 20 years I have had wood ducks feed out of my hopper feeders. There is a swamp nearby where they congregate in the spring. They can fly directly to land on the feeders and are quite agile in walking around the sides. Most times the male wood duck stands guard on top of the feeder while the female feeds.

Wood Duck pair on a cedar feeder by Nature’s Way.

My other hopper feeder had no problem accommodating two pairs.

The ducks can be pretty aggressive in going through the bird seed. Having the tube feeder up now with mostly sunflower seeds should attract a variety of songbirds without having to compete with these voracious ducks. Although if the past is any indicator, the ducks are still very capable of hanging out for seed.

Wood duck on the seed tray of a Droll Yankee feeder a few years back.