Waterfowl What they are and are not

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Waterfowl What they are and are not

• Great variety in sizes, shapes, colors
• All have webbed feet and bills
• Sibley reading is great for lots of facts and
  insights into the group

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Order Anseriformes

• Family Anatidae
• Subfamily Dendrocygninae
• Subfamily Anserinae
• Subfamily Anatinae -

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Handout

• Indicates those species occurring regularly in ID
• Ducks
• Geese
• Swans

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What separates the 3 groups?

• Ducks -
• Geese -
• Swan -

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What separates the 3 groups?

• Ducks
• Geese
• Swan

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Non-waterfowl

• Cranes, rails
• Coots
• Grebes
• Loons
• Woodcock and snipe
• These are not on handout but are
  managed by
• USFWS as are waterfowl

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On handout

• Subfamily Dendrocygninae
• Occur along gulf coast and Florida

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On handout

• Subfamily Anserinae geese and swans
• Tribe Cygnini
• Tribe Anserini

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On handout

• Subfamily Anatinae ducks, with 4 tribes
• Tribe Anatini
• Tribe Aythyini
• Tribe Mergini
• Tribe Oxyurini

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Swans - Cygnini

• Trumpeter swan and tundra swan
• Monogamous
• Territory for nesting
• Feed

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Swans

• Largest waterfowl but how much do they weigh?
• Tundra swan
• Trumpeter swan
• Long-lived species sexually mature at
• Tundra
• Trumpeter

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Swans

• Both species lay 4-5 eggs, only female incubates,
  31-33 days
• Very high nest success 90
• Why is nest success so high?

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Swans differences between species

• Voice, yellow spot in front of eye of Tundra
  sometimes
• Tundra very social outside breeding season
  1000s, Trumpeter in small groups 20-50
• Hunted?

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Geese - Tribe Anserini

• All show several similarities

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Geese - Anserini

• Migratory
• During fall and winter the family unit stays
  together and in larger flocks
• Winter behavior

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Canada Goose Branta canadensis

• 11 subspecies large or small, dark
• These 5 are small and light
• B.c. leucopareia Aleutian 4 lbs small
• B.c. minima Cackling 2.8-3.4 small
• B.c. hutchinsii Richardsons 4 small
• B.c. taverneri Taverners 4.7-5.9 small
• B.c. parvipes Lesser 5-6 small

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Large subspecies

• B.c. canadensis Atlantic 6.8-8.8
• B.c. interior Todds 7-9
• B.c. occidentalis Dusky 8-9 dark
• B.c. fulva Vancouver 8-9 dark
• B.c. moffitti Western 8-10
• B.c. maxima Giant 11-12

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Why are these subspecies important?
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Canada Goose - Ecology

• Monogamous
• Breeding
• Mortality
• Grazing

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Canada goose (cont.)

• Pairing
• Territorial
• Nesting
• Predators of eggs
• Incubation
• Renesting
• Goslings

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Subfamily Anatinae Ducks

• Tribe Anatini
• Only 2 genera in North America

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Tribe Anatini - Dabblers

• Dabblers all spring up off the water or land to
  fly
• All dabble, or tip up, to feed, but many also
  feed on land
• Rarely dive but can

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Dabblers vs others

• Dabblers Others
• Legs
• Feed
• Hind toe
• Foot
• Speculum
• Tail
• Take off

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Dabblers

• Most field guides have the speculum much too
  visible for the bird at rest
• Most field guides also have divers and sea ducks
  sitting too high in the water

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Aix sponsa wood duck

• Also called a perching duck

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Anas

• Highly social
• All migratory
• Winter
• Forage
• Nest
• Pairs

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Anas (cont.)

• All incubate 21-27 days, young fly at 38-70 days
• Teal, green and blue-winged lay 8-11 eggs
• Cinnamon teal lays 7-12 eggs
• Northern pintail lays 6-9 eggs, often nests far
  from water
• Mallard lays 7-10 eggs, largest population in NA

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Tribe Aythyini diving ducks or pochards (5
species)Genus Aythya

• All dive for food
• Nest
• Sex ratios
• Mating system
• Male Parental Care

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Aythya

• Divide water area by depths and foods
• Redhead 3-4 feet, eats more plants
• Canvasback 3-6 feet, eats plants, inverts

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Aythya

• Divide water area by depths and foods
• Redhead 3-4 feet, eats more plants
• Canvasback 3-6 feet, eats plants, inverts
• Ring-necked duck inverts
• Greater scaup 6-15 ft, eats clams, often marine
• Lesser scaup 10-40 ft, eats clams, inverts,
  snails

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Aythya

• Brood behavior when threatened
• Divers vs dabblers
• Dabblers - ?
• Divers -?

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Aythya

• Brood behavior when threatened
• Divers vs dabblers
• Dabblers
• Divers -

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Redhead is a brood parasite

• Female uses one of three strategies

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Tribe Mergini sea ducks

• Eiders, mergansers, scoters, goldeneyes,
  harlequin duck, long-tailed duck, bufflehead

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Mergini (cont.) Eiders

• Eiders are marine ducks of the arctic, rarely
  reaching coasts of lower 48 states except
• common eider on Atlantic coast to NJ
• king eider to WA and OR

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Mergini (cont.) Scoters

• Scoters pelagic, Atlantic and Pacific
  populations
• black scoter, surf scoter, white-winged scoter
• Eat mollusks, crustaceans, inverts, some seeds
• Lay 5-9 eggs, broods fly at 50-75 days, form
  creches

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Mergini (cont.) Mergansers

• Sawbills, eat fish, sex ratio favors males
  (64-67)
• breed at 2 years
• Hooded merganser nests in cavities
• Red-breasted merganser nests on ground,
  sometimes in burrows, or tree cavities
• Common merganser nests in cavities, ground,
• will sometimes scavenge dead fish

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Mergini (cont.) - Goldeneyes

• Common and Barrows Goldeneye, Bufflehead all
  genus Bucephala
• All breed at 2 years, nest in cavities, eat
  inverts and mollusks

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Mergini (cont.) - Long-tailed duck

• Only member of genus Clangula in world
• Deepest diving duck over 200 feet
• Formerly called oldsquaw
• Eats inverts, crustaceans, mollusks, fish
• Outside of the breeding season, it is rarely
  inland, but stays on coasts

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Mergini (cont.) Harlequin duck

• Only member of this genus Histrionicus in world
• nests along fast moving streams and rocky coasts
• Walks on bottom, eats crustaceans, mollusks,
  aquatic invertebrates

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Tribe Oxyurini Stiff-tailed Ducks

• 8 species worldwide, one in NA ruddy duck
• long, stiff tail
• Large bills, clumsy on land, nest over water
• Very large egg for size of bird, 6-8, will
  parasitize each other and redheads
• Eat aquatic inverts, snail, plants in winter

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The End

• Waterfowl are wonderful!