Natural
History
Notes
on the Birds
Ducks, Geese, Swans, Doves and
Pigeons
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About the
categories
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Name
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Common name
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Food
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The main food category.
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Feeding Techniques
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How it acquires its food.
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Habitat
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What kind of area does the bird
live?
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Plumage
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Is there similarity between the male
and the female, between winter and spring, young and adult,
or are there variations in the plumage amongst the species.
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Distribution
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Approximately where it is found in the
United States.
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Breeding
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Unique aspects on how the species
breeds.
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About the Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Special notes on the status or natural
history of this bird.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Selections from the Life Histories of
North American Birds, edited by
A. C. Bent.
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Name
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Food
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Seeds and other plants; sometimes
mollusks
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Feeding
Techniques
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Pulls food using its strong beak; is
able to use its long neck to reach plants in deeper water
than other ducks and geese. Will also feed on land.
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Habitat
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Breeds on tundra ponds. Winters in
agricultural areas and wildlife refuges.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, juvenile has grayer plumage.
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Distribution
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Throughout the northern portions of
the United States but not consistently. Numbers seem to be
returning. In 1978 numbers were estimated to be about
100,000. For an opportunity for 4th to 6th grade school
classes to become involved in a study of Tundra Swans check
out Shadow
a Swan Project.
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Breeding
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Majority of birds breed in Alaska;
rest breed in northern portions of Canada;
"Nests - Situated near water; a heap
of rubbish gathered from the immediate vicinity, comprising
grass, moss, and dead leaves ; sometimes lined with down."
Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Swans are protected from hunting now.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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I had lived to be nearly 50 years old
before I saw my first wild swan, but it was a sight worth
waiting for, to see a flock of these magnificent, great,
snow-white birds, glistening in the sunlight against the
clear blue sky, their long necks pointing northward toward
their polar home, their big black feet trailing behind, and
their broad translucent wings slowly beating the thin upper
air, as they sped onward in their long spring flight. If the
insatiable desire to kill, and especially to kill something
big and something beautiful, had not so possessed past and
present generations of sportsmen, I might have seen one
earlier in my life and perhaps many another ornithologist,
who has never seen a swan, might have enjoyed the thrill of
such an inspiring sight. No opportunity has been neglected
to kill these magnificent birds, by fair means or foul,
since time immemorial; until the vast hordes which formerly
migrated across our continent have been sadly reduced in
numbers and are now confined to certain favored localities.
Fortunately the breeding grounds of this species are so
remote that they are not likely to be invaded by the demands
of agriculture; and fortunately the birds are so wary that
they are not likely to be exterminated on migrations or in
their winter resorts.
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Name
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Food
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Seeds and other plant
material
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Feeding
Techniques
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Forages on both land and water. Uses
long neck to reach underwater to obtain food.
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Habitat
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Wetlands, agricultural fields but also
canbe found in small wooded ponds.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
e, juvenile has grayer
plumage.
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Distribution
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The Northwest especially. Found in
selected pockets elsewhere in the country.
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Breeding
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"Nest - placed near water; large,
composed of hay, down and feathers intermixed, or of sod,
grass and rushes lined with feathers and down."
Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Strong efforts are bringing this
species back from the brink of extinction.
"melted its primaries" - a poetic
reference to the eclipse plumage when many waterfowl molt
out their flight feathers and for a brief time are unable to
fly.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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This magnificent bird, the largest of
all the North American wild fowl, belongs to a vanishing
race; though once common throughout all of the central and
northern portions of the continent, it has been gradually
receding before the advance of civilization and agriculture;
when the great Central West was wild and uncultivated it was
known to breed in the uninhabited parts of many of our
Central States, even as far south as northern Missouri; but
now it probably does not breed anywhere within the limits of
the United States, except possibly in some of the wilder
portions of Montana or Wyoming; civilization has pushed it
farther and farther north until now it is making its last
stand in the uninhabited wilds of northern Canada.
E.
H. Forbush (1912) has summed
up the history of its disappearance very well, as
follows:
The trumpeter has succumbed to
incessant persecution in all parts of its range, and its
total extinction is now only a matter of years. Persecution
drove it from the northern parts of its winter range to the
shores of the Gulf of Mexico; from all the southern portion
of its breeding range toward the shores of the Arctic Ocean;
and from the Atlantic and Pacific slopes toward the
interior. Now it almost has disappeared from the Gulf
States. A swan soon at any time of the year in most parts of
the United States is the signal for every man with a gun to
pursue it. The breeding swans of the United States have been
extirpated, and the bird is pursued, even in its farthest
northern haunts, by the natives, who capture it in summer,
when it has melted its primaries and, is unable to fly. The
swan lives to a great age. The older birds are about as
tough and unfit for food as an old horse. Only the younger
are savory, and the gunners might well have spared the adult
birds, but it was 'sport" to kill them and fashion called
for swan's-down. The large size of this bird and its
conspicuousness have served, as in the ease of the
whooping
crane, to make it a shining
mark, and the trumpetings that were once heard over the
breadth of a great continent, as the long converging lines
drove on from zone to zone, will soon be heard no more. In
the ages to come, like the call of the whooping crane, they
will be locked in the silence of the past.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material; see below in
Notes from A. C. Bent
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds while on the water and on land.
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Habitat
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Nests in northern tundra and spends
the winter on wetlands and agricultural areas.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific coast, Rocky mountain flyway
and midwest flyway during the winter.
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Breeding
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Breeds near the Arctic Circle. Nest is
depression in ground lined with vegetation and down. Has a
dark morph which used to be considered a separate species.
"Nest - On wet ground; made of
grasses, mosses and down.." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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The Snow
Goose Problem is highlighted
in this article by USGS.
Empetrum nigrum is the scientific name
for Crowberry. A USGS article discribes the plant. "Low
growing, shrubby evergreen up to 12" high, resembling a
miniature fir tree, with short, needle-like leaves (grooved
underneath), which are turned under at the margins, and
stems with long woolly hairs. The flowers are small (3 mm),
pinkish and inconspicuous, in loose clusters in leaf axils
bearing 3 stamens, and 6-9 short-lobed stigma. The fruits
are black to dark purple drupes, juicy and berry-like,
containing up to 9 white, hard seeds."
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: The food of the snow goose is
largely vegetable, in fact almost wholly so during the
greater part of its sojourn in its winter home. In the
spring this consists largely of winter wheat and other
sprouting grains and grasses; and in the fall the stubble
fields are favorite feeding grounds, where large flocks are
known to congregate regularly. According to Swainson and
Richardson (1831) it "feeds on rushes, insects,
and in autumn on berries, particularly those of the Empetrum
nigrum." Doctor
Coues (1874) gives the best
account of its feeding habits, as follows:
Various kinds of ordinary grass form a
large part of this birds food, at least during their winter
residence in the United States. They gather it precisely as
tame geese are wont to do. Flocks alight upon a meadow or
plain, and pass over the ground in broken array, cropping to
either side as they go, with the peculiar tweak of the bill
and quick jerk of the neck familiar to all who have watched
the barnyard birds when similarly engaged. The short, turfy
grasses appear to be highly relished and this explains the
frequent presence of the birds in fields at a distance from
water. They also eat the bulbous roots and soft succulent
culms of aquatic plants, and in securing these the
tooth-like processes of the bill are brought into special
service.
Wilson again says that, when thus
feeding upon reeds. " they tear them up like hogs " a
questionable comparison, however, for the birds pull up the
plants instead of pushing or "rooting" them up. The geese, I
think, also feed largely upon aquatic insects, small
mollusks, and marine invertebrates of various kinds; for
they are often observed in mud flats and rocky places by the
seaside, where there is no vegetation whatever; and it is
probable that when they pass over meadows they do not spare
the grasshoppers. Audubon
relates that in Louisiana he has often seen the geese
feeding in wheat fields, where they plucked up the young
plants entire.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds while on the water and on land.
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Habitat
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Nests in northern tundra and spends
the winter on wetlands and agricultural areas.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Winters in isolated pockets in
California, Texas, New Mexico
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Breeding
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Nest is depression in ground lined
with vegetation and down.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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The smallest and the rarest of the
geese which regularly visit the United States is this pretty
little white goose, hardly larger than our largest ducks, a
winter visitor from farthest north, which comes to spend a
few winter months in the genial climate of
California.
Spring: Whither it goes when it wings
its long flight northeastward across the Rocky Mountains in
the early spring no one knows, probably to remote and
unexplored lands in the Arctic regions. At certain places it
is abundant at times, as the following account by Robert S.
Williams (1886), of Great Falls, Montana, will illustrate;
he writes
On the 17th of April, 1885. after
several days of stormy weather, with wind from the
northwest, accompanied at times by heavy fog and rain, there
appeared on a bar in the Missouri River at this place a
large flock of Ross's snow geese. In the afternoon of the
same day, procuring a boat, we rowed toward the flock, which
presented a rather remarkable sight, consisting as it did of
several thousand individuals squatting closely together
along the edge of the bar. Here and there birds were
constantly standing up and flapping their wings, then
settling down again, all the while a confused gabble, half
gooselike, half ducklike, arising from the whole flock. We
approached to within a hundred yards or so, when the geese
lightly arose to a considerable height and flew off over the
prairie, where they soon alighted and began to feed on the
short, green grass. While flying, often two or three birds
would dart off from the main flock, and, one behind the
other, swing around in great curves, quite after the manner
of the little chimney swift in the East. Apparently these
same birds remained about till the 26th of April, long after
the storm was over, but they became broken up into several
smaller flocks some time before leaving.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material, but recently
has become a general scavenger in suburban areas.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds while on the water and on land.
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Habitat
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Still found in the wilds but more and
more perfers parks, suburan areas
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Throughout the US. The growing
population of Canada Geese is becoming a problem in some
areas of the country. Their waste matter causes pond and
lake water to become toxic to people.
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Breeding
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Will nest in a variety of places,
including artificial nest sites. Nest is depression in
ground lined with vegetation and down.
"Nest - Usually in swampy situations,
but on dry ground, more rarely on a stump or in a tree in an
old nest of some other bird; constructed of twigs, weeds,
grasses or reeds, with abundant lining of down."
Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Young: The period of incubation varies
from 28 to 30 days; probably the former is the usual time
under favorable circumstances. The gander never sits on the
nest, but while the goose is incubating he is constantly in
attendance, except when obliged to leave in search of food.
He is a staunch defender of the home and is no mean
antagonist. Audubon
(1840) relates the following:
It is during the breeding season that
the gander displays his courage and strength to the greatest
advantage. I knew one that appeared larger than usual, and
of which all the lower parts were of a rich cream color. It
returned three years in succession to a large pond a few
miles from the mouth of Green River, in Kentucky, and
whenever I visited the nest it seemed to look upon me with
utter contempt. It would stand in a stately attitude until I
reached within a few yards of the nest, when suddenly
lowering its head and shaking it as if it were dislocated
from the neck, it would open its wings and launch into the
air, flying directly at me. So daring was this fine fellow
that in two instances he struck me a blow with one of his
wings on the right arm, which for an instant I thought was
broken. I observed that immediately after such an effort to
defend his nest and mate he would run swiftly toward them,
pass his head and neck several times over and around the
female, and again assume his attitude of
defiance.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds while on the water and on land.
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Habitat
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Mostly marshes and fields
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Found wintering in California, Oregon,
New Mexico, Texas
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Breeding
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Nest is depression in ground lined
with vegetation and down. See below.
"Nest - On the ground, near water,
often in wooded districts; made of grass and feathers and
lined with down." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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John Murdoch (1885) says that at Point
Barrow: the eggs are always laid in the black, muddy tundra,
often on top of a slight knoll. The nest is lined with
tundra moss and down. The number of eggs in a brood appears
subject to considerable variation, as we found sets of 4, 6,
and 7, all well advanced in incubation. The last-laid egg is
generally in the middle of the nest and may be recognized by
its white shell unless incubation is far advanced, the other
eggs being stained and soiled by the birds coming on and off
the nest.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material, but also
invertebrates such as mollusks
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds while on the water and on land.
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Habitat
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This species is generally found along
the coast.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Found primarily along the Pacific
coast, but also along Atlantic coast
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Breeding
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Nest is depression in ground lined
with vegetation and down.
"Nest - On marshy ground; a simple
depression, abundantly lined with down." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Witherby's 'Handbook of British
Birds', published in 1921.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: According to Witherby's Handbook
(1921) the food of the brant on its breeding grounds
consists of "grass, algae, moss, and stalks and leaves of
arctic plants (Eriophorum, Ranunculus, Cerastium, Oxyria,
and Saxifraga) ." The "young feed on Gramineae and
Oxyria."
While on our coasts their chief food
is eelgrass (Zostera
marina), which grows so
extensively in our shallow bays and estuaries. At certain
stages of the tides, the last half of the ebb or the first
half of the flood, when the beds of eelgrass are uncovered
or covered with shallow water, the brant resort to them in
large numbers to feed. They prefer the roots and the whitish
lower stems, but they eat the green fronds also. As soon as
the water is shallow enough for them to reach the grass by
tipping up they begin to feed, and they keep at it until the
tide again covers the flats too deeply. While most of the
birds are feeding with heads and necks below the surface
there are always a few sentinels on watch to warn them of
approaching danger.
They pull up much more eelgrass than
they can eat at once; this floats off with the tide and
often forms small floating islands, far off from shore, to
which the brant resort at high tide to feed again. John
Cordeaux (1898) says that the longer pieces of Zostera "are
neatly rolled up, like ribbons, in their stomachs"; they
also devour the fronds of some species of algae.
crustaceans, mollusca, worms, and marine insects. Gatke says
that at Heligoland, when the sea is calm, small companies
will approach the cliffs and pick off the small mollusca and
crustaceans.
I have at times been greatly
entertained in watching a flock of brant feeding in shallow
water, close inshore, the greater portion of the birds
upside down, their rumps and tails showing the white
coverts, only visible as they greedily tear at the blades
and roots of the grass wrack, whilst others are seizing the
floating fragments of the plant, broken off and dislodged by
their mates; and on the outside there are always some with
heads held high, over on the watch, and ready to give alarm.
All the time they keep a continuous, noisy gabbling and
grunting, the rear birds constantly swimming forward to get
in advance of their fellows, a procedure which I have known,
more than once, bring them within range of an ordinary
sporting gun.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds chiefly while on land.
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Habitat
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Coastal waters
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Rare nortwest visitor
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Breeding
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Nest is depression in ground lined
with vegetation and down.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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The handsomest and the least known of
American geeses confined to such narrow limits, both in its
breeding range and on its migrations, that it has been seen
by fewer naturalists than any other goose on our list. On
the almost inaccessible, low, marshy shores of Alaska,
between the mouths of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, it
formerly bred abundantly; but recent explorations in that
region indicate that it has been materially reduced in
numbers during the past 30 years. My assistant, Mr. Hersey,
who spent the season of 1914 at the Yukon delta, saw less
than a dozen birds, where Doctor Nelson found it so abundant
in 1879. The decrease is partially, if not wholly, due to
the fact that large numbers are killed every year and their
eggs taken by the natives, even within the limits of what is
supposed to be a reservation.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Tips over and dabs at the water. Beak
serves as a filter system to capture the plant material.
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Habitat
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Lakes, ponds; especially municipal
parks.
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Plumage
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Male and female have very distinctly
different plumage.
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Distribution
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Throughout the United States.
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Breeding
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Nests away from water and will place
nest in a variety of different places. Usually on the
ground. Hybridizes
very easily with other ducks.
"Nest - Generally on ground near
water, hidden in clumps of willows, weeds, tules, but more
often in tall grass; crudely made of leaves and grasses but
warmly and copiously lined with down; about seven inches in
inside diameter." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: Mallards are essentially
fresh-water ducks and find their principal feeding grounds
in the sloughs, ponds, lakes, streams, and swamps of the
interior, where their food is picked up on or above the
surface or obtained by partial immersion in shallow water.
In Alaska and on the Pacific coast they feed largely on dead
salmon and salmon eggs, which they obtain in the pools in
the rivers. On or near their breeding grounds in the prairie
regions they feed largely on wheat, barley, and corn which
they glean from the stubble fields. On their migrations in
the central valleys they frequent the timbered ponds,
everglades, and wooded swamps, alighting among the trees to
feed on beechnuts and acorns or to pick up an occasional
slug, snail, frog, or lizard. In the South they resort to
the rice fields and savannas in large numbers, feeding both
by day and night if not disturbed; where they are hunted
persistently they become more nocturnal in their feeding
habits.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Tips over and dabs at the water. Beak
serves as a filter system to capture the plant material.
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Habitat
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Lakes and ponds.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have different plumage.
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Distribution
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Primarily the northeast of the United
States.
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Breeding
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Hybridizing
with Mallards is diminishing their numbers.
"Nest - On the ground; constructed of
weeds, grass, and feathers." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Behavior: The black duck starts into
flight, from land or water by a powerful upward spring,
rising perpendicularly 8 to 10 feet into the air before it
starts away in its swift and direct flight. When once under
way its flight is strong and swift, usually high in the air,
unless forced by strong adverse winds to fly low; its long
neck is outstretched and its wings vibrate rapidly, the
white underside of the wings flashing in the light and
serving as a good field mark at a long distance. When
descending from a height to alight in a pond the pointed
wings are curved downward and rigidly held, as the smooth
body glides through the air, tipping slightly from side to
side, gradually dropping in a circle until near enough to
check its momentum with a few vigorous flaps and drop into
the water, feet first, with a gentle, gliding
splash.
On land the black duck walks with ease
and grace, running rapidly, if necessary, and holding its
head high. It is ever on the alert and can seldom be
surprised. It swims lightly and gracefully and with some
speed. It does not ordinarily dive, but it can do so, if
necessary, as every gunner knows who has wounded one and
chased it. I have read that this duck can detect the
presence of danger by the sense of smell, but I doubt it; it
would not come so readily to well-concealed duck stands,
where human beings are living constantly, if its nostrils
were very keen. I should think it more likely that it
depends on its sight and hearing, both of which are very
acute and highly developed.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dabbling duck
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Habitat
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Ponds, small lakes, marshes
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have different plumage.
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Distribution
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During the winter it is found
throughout the US but abundant in the west. It breeds in
Canada.
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Breeding
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Often nests away from water. Little
territorial defense results in high predation of eggs.
"Nest - Usually in tall grass on dry
ground but near water; a crude structure of dry grasses
lined with down." Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Once, on May 17, while sitting
overlooking a series of small ponds, a pair of pintails
arose and started off, the male in full chase after the
female. Back and forth they passed at a marvelously swift
rate of speed, with frequent quick turns and evolutions. At
one moment they were almost out of view high overhead and
the next saw them skimming along the ground in an involved
course very difficult to follow with the eye. Ere long a
second male joined in the chase, then a third, and so on
until six males vied with each other in the pursuit. The
original pursuer appeared to be the only one capable of
keeping close to the coy female, and owing to her dextrous
turns and curves he was able to draw near only at intervals.
Whenever he did succeed he always passed under the female,
and kept so close to her that their wings clattered together
with a noise like a watchman's rattle, and audible a long
distance. This chase lasted half an hour, and after five of
the pursuers had dropped off one by one the pair remaining
(and I think the male was the same that originated the
pursuit) settled in one of the ponds.
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Name
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Food
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Mostly plant material.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dabbling duck
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Habitat
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Ponds, small lakes, marshes
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have different plumage.
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Distribution
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During the winter it is found
throughout the US but abundant in the west. It breeds in
Canada and the upper midwest
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Breeding
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Female builds nest on land near water,
protected by tall vegetation.
"Nest - In grass on dry ground but
usually close to water; composed of grasses and tules and
lined with down; resembles that of Mallard."
Game
Birds in California
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
oak mast - the acorns of oak trees; an
important source of food for birds and mammals
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Behavior: The gadwall can walk well on
land, where it forages for oak mast in the woods and for
grain in the open fields, often a long distance from water.
It takes flight readily from either land or water, springing
into the air and flying swiftly away in a straight line.
When migrating, it flies in small flocks of about a dozen
birds; in appearance and manner of flight it greatly
resembles the baldpate,
but the male can usually be distinguished from the latter by
the white speculum and the brown wing coverts; a similar
difference exists between the females, but only to a slight
degree; practiced gunners claim to recognize other field
marks, but they have proven too subtle for my eyes, and I
have frequently mistaken one species for the other. The
gadwall ought not to be mistaken for any other species,
except the baldpate
or the European
widgeon, but it frequently is
confused, by ignorant gunners, with the young males and
females of the pintail,
though its flight and general appearance are entirely
different; the name "gray duck" has been applied to both the
gadwall and the pintail, which has led to much confusion of
records and to erroneous impressions as to the former
abundance of the gadwall in New England, where, I believe,
it has always been a rare bird.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Plant material and small invertebrates
and vertebrates
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Uses its large beak to filter food
from the water.
|
|
Habitat
|
Ponds, marsh, small lakes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Throughout the US, but more commonly
in the south.
|
|
Breeding
|
Breeds in Canada and the US
"Nest - Usually on dry ground,
sometimes at a considerable distance from water; constructed
of grass and weed stems, and sometimes lined with down."
Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Millais (1902) relates the following
incident to illustrate the activity of the shoveller in
feeding:
To the observer who sees the shoveler
casually by day he appears to be somewhat of a lethargic
nature; but, when he cares to do so, he can move faster on
the water than any of the fresh-water ducks. I have watched
with pleasure the wonderful sight, calculation, and
quickness of a male shoveler that I once kept in confinement
on a small marshy pond at Fort George. About the last week
in April a certain water insect,
whose name I do not know, would "rise" from the mud below to
the surface of the pool only to be captured by the shoveler,
who, rushing at full speed along the water, snapped up the
beetle the moment it came to the surface. How it could see
the insect in the act of rising I could never make out, for
it was invisible to me standing on the bank above, and I
could only just catch a glimpse of it as the shoveler
reached his prey and dexterously caught the beetle as it
darted away again. After each capture the duck retired to
the side of the pool again and there awaited the next rise -
commonly about 25 feet away.
While thus occupied he seemed to be in
a high state of tension; the feathers are closely drawn up
and be kept his neck working backwards and forwards, in
preparation, as it were, for the next spring, exactly like a
cat "getting up steam" for the final rush on a victim.
Sometimes he seemed to get into a frantic state of
excitement, darting here and there as if he saw beetles
rising in every direction. I noticed also that while
devouring his prey the pupils of his eyes were unusually
contracted, and the golden circlets seemed to shine more
brilliantly than usual.
The food of the shoveller consists of
grasses, the buds and young shoots of rushes, and other
water plants, small fishes, small frogs, tadpoles, shrimps,
leeches, aquatic worms, crustaceans, small mollusks,
particularly snails, water insects, and other insects, as
well as their larvae and pupae.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Mostly plant material;
insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Forages while in water; uses its beak
to strain plant material from water. See below.
|
|
Habitat
|
Ponds, marsh, small lakes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Western and southeastern
states
|
|
Breeding
|
Female builds nest on land near water,
protected by tall vegetation.
"Nest - On the ground near water;
constructed of grass and feathers placed in a thick growth
of grasss." Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Food: The green-winged teal enjoys a
varied diet which it obtains in various ways in different
parts of its habitat. In its summer home it loves to dabble
in the shallow water about the edges of the sloughs, ponds,
creeks, with its body half immersed, its feet kicking in the
air and its bill probing in the mud for aquatic
insects
or their larvae, worms, small mollusks and crustaceans, or
even tadpoles. In such places it also feeds on the soft
parts of various water plants and their seeds. In harvest
time it wanders to the grain fields and picks up the fallen
grains of corn, wheat, oats, barley, and buckwheat, where it
also feeds on various other seeds, grasses, and vegetable
matter. At this season and in the winter, when it lives in
the southern rice fields feasting on the fallen harvest, it
grows very fat and its flesh becomes desirable for the
table, equaling the finest of the ducks.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Mostly plant material and seeds; also
insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Forages while in water; uses its beak
to strain plant material from water.
|
|
Habitat
|
Ponds, marsh, small lakes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Western and southeastern
states
|
|
Breeding
|
Nest is situated on the
ground.
"Nest - Usually on dry ground near
fresh water, and hidden in tall grass; made of grass or
reeds and lined with down." Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Young: As the male deserts the female
soon after the eggs are laid, incubation is performed solely
by her. Incubation does not begin until after the last egg
is laid, one egg having been laid each day until the set is
complete. The period of incubation is from 21 to 23 days.
The young hatch almost simultaneously, or at least within a
few hours; they remain in the nest until they have dried off
and are strong enough to walk, when they are led to the
nearest water and taught by their devoted mother to feed.
Their food at this age consists mainly of soft insects,
worms, and other small, tender, animal food, but they soon
learn to forage for themselves and pick up a variety of
vegetable foods as well. The young are guarded with tender
care by one of the most devoted of mothers; when surprised
with her brood of young she resorts to all the arts and
strategies known to anxious bird mothers to draw the
intruder away from her brood or to distract his attention,
utterly regardless of her own safety, while the young have
time to hide or escape to a place of safety. The young are
experts at hiding, even in open situations, where they squat
flat on the ground and vanish; but they usually run or swim
in among tall grass or reeds, where it is almost useless to
look for them. All through the remainder of the summer,
until they are able to fly, she remains with them teaching
them where to find the choicest foods and how to escape from
their numerous enemies; they learn to know her warning
calls, when to run and when to hide, and by the end of the
summer they are ready to gather into flocks for the fall
migration.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Mostly plant material and seeds and
some animal matter; see below
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Forages while in water; uses its beak
to strain plant material from water.
|
|
Habitat
|
Ponds, marsh, small lakes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Western states
|
|
Breeding
|
Female builds nest on land near water,
protected by tall vegetation.
"Nest - Situated in grassy fields or
among tules, sometimes above shallow water but more often
above damp ground, at times some little distance from water;
made of grasses or tules compactly woven together and deeply
saucer-shaped." Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Mr. Douglas C. Mabbott (1920) says:
Like the greenwing
and the bluewing,
the cinnamon teal lives mainly upon vegetable food, this
comprising about four-fifths (79.86 per cent) of the total
contents of the stomachs examined. And, like the other
teals, its two principal and most constant items of food are
the seeds and other parts of sedges (Cyperaceae) and
pondweeds (Naiadaceae). These two families of plants
furnished 34.27 and 27.12 per cent, respectively, of the
bird's entire diet. The grasses (Gramineae) amounted to 7.75
per cent; smartweeds (Polygonacene), to 3.22; mallows
(Malvaceae), 1.87; goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), 0.75;
water milfoils (Haloragidaceae), 0.37; and miscellaneous,
4.51.
The 41 cinnamon teals examined had
made of animal matter 20.14 per cent of their food. This
consisted of insects, 10.19 per cent; mollusks, 8.69 per
cent; and a few small miscellaneous items, 1.26 per
cent.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Seeds and acquatic plants
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Forages while in water
|
|
Habitat
|
Ponds, marsh, small lakes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Eastern states, and Pacific coast
states
|
|
Breeding
|
Breeds in tree cavity; see
below
"Nest - In hollow in a tree usually
over or near water, but occassionally some distance from it;
composed of twigs, grasses and leaves, and lined with down."
Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
This is one of the very few mentions
of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a woodpecker that is now
considered extinct.
Beau Brummel - the Wood Duck is
compared to Beau Brummel who is a literary figure who
represents a dandy, a person who is very concerned about
their appearance.
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Spring: While wandering through the
dim cathedral aisles of a big cypress swamp in Florida,
where the great trunks of the stately trees towered straight
upward for a hundred feet or more until the branches
interlaced above so thickly that the sunlight could not
penetrate, we seemed to be lost in the gloom of a strange
tropical forest and far removed from the familiar sights and
sounds of the outside world. Only the frequent cries of the
omnipresent Florida red-shouldered
hawk and an occasional glimpse
of a familiar flycatcher or vireo, migrating northward
reminded us of home. But at last the light seemed to break
through the gloom, as we approached a little sunlit pond,
and there we saw some familiar friends, the center of
interest in a pretty picture, framed in the surroundings of
their winter home, warmed by the genial April sun and
perhaps preparing to leave for their northern summer home.
The sunlight filtering through the tops of the tall
cypresses which surrounded the pool shone full upon the
snowy forms of 50 or more white
ibises, feeding on the muddy
shores, dozing on the fallen logs, or perched upon the dead
stumps or surrounding trees; the air seemed full of them as
they rose and flew away. But with this dazzling cloud of
whiteness there arose from the still waters of the pool a
little flock of wood ducks, brilliant in their full nuptial
plumage, their gaudy colors flashing in the sunshine, as
they went whirring off through the tree tops. What a
beautiful creature is this Beau Brummel among birds and what
an exquisite touch of color he adds to the scene among the
water hyacinths of Florida or among the pond lilies of New
England.
The wood duck is a strictly North
American species and principally a bird of the United
States, for its summer range extends but a short distance
north of our borders, except in the warmer, central portions
of Canada, and even in winter it does not migrate far south
of us. It is one of the most widely distributed species,
breeding throughout most of its range and wintering more or
less regularly over much of its habitat in the United
States. For these reasons its migrations are not easily
traced except in the Northern States and Provinces. It is a
moderately early migrant, coming after the ice has left the
woodland ponds and timbered sloughs. Dr. F. Henry Yorke
(1899) says:
They arrive in three distinct issues,
after sunset and through the night, suddenly appearing in
the morning upon their accustomed haunts. The first stays
but a brief period, and depart. for the north to breed; the
second puts in an appearance a few days later, but soon
leaves to nest in the northern parts of the United States;
the third arrives directly after the second leaves and
scatters over the Middle States to nest. This issue forms
the local ducks of each State it breeds in.
Nesting: The wood duck has earned the
common name of "summer duck" on account of its breeding and
spending the summer so far south; it has also been called
the "tree duck" from its habit of nesting in trees. Its
favorite nesting site is in a fairly large natural cavity in
the trunk or large branch of a tree; it has no special
preference for any particular kind of tree and not much
choice as to its location; it probably would prefer to find
a suitable hollow tree near some body of water, but it is
often forced to select a tree at a long distance away from
it and sometimes very near the habitations of man. The size
and depth of the cavity selected vary greatly, and its
height from the ground may be anywhere from 3 or 4 feet to
40 or 50. If it can not find a natural cavity that suits its
taste, the wood duck occasionally occupies the deserted
nesting hole of one of the larger woodpeckers, such as the
ivory-billed or pileated
woodpecker, or even the
flicker; sometimes the former home of a fox squirrel or
other large squirrel is selected, in which case the old
nesting material, dry leaves and soft rubbish, is left in
the cavity and mixed with the down of the duck. Such
material is often found in the nest of the wood duck, but I
doubt if it is ever brought in by the bird.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Mostly plant material
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Will feed on land and on the
water
|
|
Habitat
|
Small ponds, marshes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Throughout the US
|
|
Breeding
|
Female builds nest on land near water,
protected by tall vegetation. Breeds in Canada and the
US
"Nest - Usually on high ground, and
often a considerable distance from water; a slight
depression well lined with dry grass and weed stems and
abundantly supplied with light gray down." Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
Baldpate is a former name used for the
American Wigeon.
postnuptial molt - a molt that takes
place after breeding
eclipse pluamge - a molt that
generally occurs during the summer when the flight feathers
molt out and the bird is temporarily flightless
vinaceous - having the color of red
wine
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
When about 4 or 5 weeks old, in
August, the young baldpate assumes its first complete
plumage, the wings being the last to reach full development.
In this first mottled plumage the sexes are much alike, but
in the male the gray feathers of the back begin to appear in
September and the progress toward maturity proceeds rapidly;
the brown mottled feathers of the back are replaced by the
gray vermiculated feathers of the adult and the mottling in
the breast disappears, leaving the clear vinaceous color of
maturity; so that by December or January the most forward
birds have acquired a plumage which closely resembles that
of the old bird, except on the wings, which still show the
gray mottling on the lesser wing coverts peculiar to young
birds. In some precocious individuals the lesser wing
coverts become nearly pure white before the first nuptial
season, but in most cases the immature wing is retained
until the first postnuptial molt, which is complete. With
both old and young birds the molt into the eclipse
plumage begins in June and the
molt out of this into the adult winter dress is not
completed until October or November. At this molt the white
lesser wing coverts are assumed by the young, old and young
birds becoming indistinguishable. The seasonal molts of the
adult consist of the prolonged double molt of the body
plumage, into the eclipse in June and July and out of the
eclipse in September and October, and the single molt of the
flight feathers in August. Old males in the eclipse plumage
closely resemble females, except for the wings, which are
always distinctive.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Mostly plant material
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Will feed on land and on the
water
|
|
Habitat
|
Small ponds, marshes
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
. Rare, but regular visitor to Pacific
coast states
|
|
Breeding
|
Female builds nest on land near
water, protected by tall vegetation
"Nest - On ground near water; built of
grasses and dead plants and well concealed."
Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
phalanx - a close knit
group
pugnacious - agressive, prone to
fighting
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Courtship: The actual courtship of the
widgeon differs somewhat from that of other surface feeders,
and the display of the male bird is an interesting one. A
female having shown herself desirous of selecting a mate,
five or six males crowd closely round, hemming her in on
every side and persecuting her with their attentions. If she
swims away, they follow her in a close phalanx, every male
raising his crest, stretching out his neck close over the
water, and erecting the beautiful long feathers of the
scapulars to show them off. He also depresses the shoulder
joints downward, so as to elevate the primaries in the air.
All the time the amorous males keep up a perfect babble of
loud "Whee-ous," and they are by far the noisiest of ducks
in their courtship. Occasionally the cock birds fight and
drive each other off, but ducks are not, broadly speaking,
pugnacious birds, and success in winning the admiration of
the female is rather a matter of persistent and active
attention than physical force.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Fish and small invertebrates; see
below
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Dives and swims underwater to catch
small fish.
|
|
Habitat
|
Small lakes and bays.
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have different plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Eastern US and the Pacific coast
states; breeds in the midwest
|
|
Breeding
|
Perfers to nest in tree cavities but
will nest under shrubs, large rocks. Will also use
artificial nesting box. Competes with Goldeneyes for
cavities.
"Nest - In hollows of trees high above
ground and near or over water; built of grasses and weeds
and lined with down from the breast of the female."
Game
Birds in California
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Food: The hooded merganser lives and
feeds almost exclusively on and in fresh water; I believe
that some of its food is obtained on the surface, but it is
an expert diver and finds much of its food on muddy or on
stony bottoms. Its food is mostly animal, and consists
largely of insects.
Like other mergansers, it is expert at chasing and catching
small fish, which probably constitute its chief supply; in
muddy pools it finds frogs and tadpoles and snails, and
other mollusks; on clear stony bottoms it obtains crawfish,
caddis fly larvae, and dragon-fly nymphs; sand eels, small
crustaceans, beetles, and various aquatic insects are also
eaten. It is also known to eat some vegetable food, the
roots of aquatic plants, seeds, and grain. Dr. F. Henry
Yorke (1899) recognized among its vegetable food the
following genera of water plants: Limnobium, Myriophyllum,
Callitriche, and Utricularia.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Fish and small
invertebrates
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Dives and swims underwater to catch
fish.
|
|
Habitat
|
During the non-breeding season it is
generally found in salt water; often in bays
|
|
Plumage
|
Male has breeding and non-breeding
plumage; non-breeding plumage is similar to female's
plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Non-breeding distribution is along
both coasts, breeds inland throughout the US
|
|
Breeding
|
|