Wood duck and hooded merganser nesting on Arrowwood NWR, North Dakota
No abstract available.
North Dakota↗
Geology topics
A.D. Kruse
Publications and source records attributed to A.D. Kruse.
Simplified methods for mass propagation of greater prairie chickens
Abstract has not been submitted
Game Bird Breeders Gazette↗
Environmental factors that influence prescribed burning in the Northern Plains
Several environmental conditions were recorded and analyzed for 192 prescribed burns in the Northern Great Plains. The purpose of these burns was to improve wildlife habitat and manipulate native prairie vegetation. All of the fires occurred in grassland and shrubsteppe vegetation types. Fuels were predominantly grasses and forbs intermixed with patches of shrubs. Nearly all of the fuels were <1.5 m tall. Shrub stems averaged <2.5 cm in diameter.In northern grasslands, prescribed burns can be conducted successfully during all months when there is no snow or ice cover on the ground. However, the burns analyzed here were conducted between March and October during all hours of the day or night.Burns were conducted under a wide range of environmental conditions. For example, one plot of mixed-grass prairie burned successfully just 9 hours after it received 1.2 cm of rain; another plot of mixed-grass prairie burned successfully when ambient air temperature was only 1.7 deg.C. Heavy fuels will often burn for short periods of time though light rain or snow are falling.Precipitation, relative humidity, temperature, cloud cover, and wind speed and direction are important climatic factors to consider before and during prescribed burns. These factors influence ignition of fuels, fire behavior, and fire effects. The 4 basic environmental conditions that influence the burning of northern plains grasslands and shrubsteppe are those that:1) Prohibit ignition or spread of fires. Plots with complete snow or ice cover, or those ignited during rainfall rates >0.05 cm/h, do not burn. However, these are good conditions to burn stockpiles of unwanted fuels that are usually high risk elements during regular prescribed burns.2) Produce partial burns. Partial burns are defined as those where fire is discontinuous and patches of standing and lodged vegetation are left unburned. Partial burns occur most often when fine fuels feel moist when handled, where less than 2 days have passed since the last measurable precipitation, and when cloud cover is complete. Other conditions associated with partial burns are relative humidities >50 percent, temperatures <21 deg.C, and wind speeds <10 km/h. These conditions occur most often during May and June.3) Produce complete burns. Complete burns are defined as those in which fire is continuous and nearly all vegetation (standing, lodged, and ground litter) is consumed by the fire. Complete burns occur most often when fine fuels feel dry when handled, 2 or more days have passed since the last measurable precipitation, and the sky is partly cloudy to clear. Complete burns occur with relative humidities between 25 and 50 percent, temperatures between 21 and 32 deg.C, and wind speeds of 13 to 24 km/h. These conditions occur most often in July, August, and September, but can occur anytime from March through November.4) Produce high risk fires. High risk fires are defined as those fires that are conducted during undesirable climatic conditions. High risk fires can always be expected with a combination of high winds, low humidity, high temperatures, and no recent precipitation. These conditions are most probable with wind speeds >32 km/h, relative humidities <20 percent, and temperatures >35 deg.C. These conditions occur most often in July, August, and September, but can occur anytime from April through October.
Book chapter↗
Use of elevated nest baskets by ducks
Open-top nest baskets were mounted on upright metal poles in various wetlands to assess the value of baskets as a potential technique for increasing duck nest success. Observations were made from 1966-1968 in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and were continued through 1973 in North Dakota. Baskets were used most readily in the prairie pothole region; of the 1,038 basket nest sites provided during 1966-68, 392 contained clutches of eggs (38 percent), and 324 (83 percent) hatched. Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) initiated 98 percent of these nests. Factors affecting nest success included human disturbance, nesting material, egg freezing, and avian predation.
Wildlife Society Bulletin↗
High survival and homing rate of hand-reared wild-strain mallards
In the summer of 1970, 648 (329 males and 319 females) hand-reared wild-strain mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) were banded and released at the Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge, Edmunds, North Dakota. The females were also marked with numbered nasal saddles. Liberation was by the gentle release method, and no special effort was made to isolate or condition the ducklings prior to release. Ducklings were placed in an enclosed pond area at 25 to 45 days of age. Altogether, 627 (97 percent) ducklings reached flight age and dispersed gradually into the wild. All had left the release area by 25 November. First-year band recovery reports indicated that 68 (11 percent) of the birds were shot in 15 states. Their migration pattern was similar to that for immature wild mallards banded in North Dakota in 1970. Eighty-nine (33 percent) of a possible 270 marked females returned to Arrowwood Refuge during 1971. When consideration is given to assumed normal natural mortality and crippling loss, an estimated minimum of 43 percent of the surviving females returned to the release area. Returning birds not observed would raise this figure even higher. This potential homing rate is considerably higher than rates reported for other studies using various strains of mallards. Numerous observations of nests and broods indicated that breeding behavior and nesting success were similar to those of wild mallards in the area. The success of this release is attributed to the inherent capability of hand-reared, wild-strain mallards to revert to their wild behavior, and to the high survival to flight age and first fall migration afforded by the gentle release in a sanctuary area. Indications are that releases of this type under the described conditions can be used to increase the breeding population of mallards in a local area.
North Dakota↗
Techniques for establishing local breeding populations of wood ducks
A study was conducted on the Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge in east-central North Dakota to further evaluate a technique for establishing nesting wood ducks ( Aix sponsa ) by releasing propagated birds and installing nest houses. No wood duck nesting had been recorded previously in the area. During May-July 1968, 253 ducklings, hand-reared at the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center near Jamestown, North Dakota, were released when 9 to 16 days old into a 0.5-acre enclosure on the refuge, where they grew to flight stage and departed. Seventy-eight nest houses were installed in August on the refuge. About 76 percent of the ducks survived until late September, when southward migration began. The first-year band recovery rate by hunters of 4.7 percent was comparable to that of wild immature wood ducks. Most recoveries occurred between North Dakota and Minnesota in the north and Texas and Louisiana in the south. There were 16 nesting attempts, which produced 175 ducklings, by homing female wood ducks in the boxes in 1969. The number of nesting attempts increased to 34 in 1970, with a production of 311 ducklings.
North Dakota↗