Eagle Scout project protects ducks in Gurnee slough
Gurnee resident Carl Senger and 10 of his fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 627 recently built and installed seven wood duck houses at the Redwing Slough and Deer Lake on Route 173, west of Route 45, as his Eagle Scout project.
A freshman at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, the 14-year-old Senger collected the materials from donors and secured the necessary permits from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and supervised the construction and installation of the houses.
Troop 627 is based in Gurnee and chartered by the Knights of Columbus at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church.
Senger has been hunting and fishing most of his life, and his interest in the outdoors led him to choose a conservation project. The site was selected because Carl and his father, Mark, had a duck hunting blind and trapped beavers at both lakes in years past.
The cedar houses provide a nesting habitat for wood ducks. The houses will last about five years, and during that time Senger will have to be sure they are cleaned and ready for the nesting season.
The large cones under house are predator guards. Inside the house there are wood shavings and also wire screening affixed to the wall of the house to allow the ducklings to make their way to the opening of the house when the mother duck calls them to leave the nest.
Wood ducks are a unique species of waterfowl in that they have claws at the bottom of their feet, which allows them to perch on trees.
Once the drakes and hens establish breeding pairs in the winter, they will return to the breeding grounds to nest. They are cavity nesting birds that will make a nest in hollowed out trees or nesting boxes. The hen will lay six to 15 eggs and incubate them for 30 days.
It takes 21 merit badges to become an Eagle Scout and Senger hopes to have completed the process by his birthday in January.
He received donations of materials from Ace Hardware, Gurnee; Scheck Lumber, Broadview; Walters Buildings, Allenton, WI; and, Peterson Fence Co., Lake Forest.