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USGS1998

Status of the white-faced ibis: Breeding colony dynamics of the Great Basin population, 1985-1997

The status of the White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) in the Great Basin is of concern because of its small population size and the limited and dynamic nature of its breeding habitat. We analyzed existing annual survey data for the White-faced Ibis breeding in the Great Basin and surrounding area for 1985-1997. Methods varied among colonies and included flight-line counts and fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter surveys. The number of White-faced Ibis breeding pairs in the Great Basin area has nearly tripled since 1985, despite years of severe flooding and drought at major breeding areas. This growth is reflected in both peripheral (i.e., Oregon, California, Idaho) and core (i.e., Nevada and Utah) components of the population. Our data on colony dynamics in Oregon and Nevada illustrate the ability of the highly nomadic White-faced Ibis to compensate for poor conditions at traditional colony sites by moving among colonies and rapidly colonizing newly available wetlands. We suggest that the White-faced Ibis would benefit from a landscape mosaic of well-distributed peripheral wetlands and persistent colony sites. The nomadic nature of the White-faced Ibis and the dynamic nature of their breeding habitat necessitates that wetland management decisions and population monitoring be conducted in a regional context.

Colonial Waterbirds↗

USGS1989

Suspected fusariomycotoxicosis in sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis): clinical and pathological findings.

In 1985 and 1986, large-scale natural die-offs of sandhill cranes in Texas were attributed to fusariomycotoxicosis. These birds demonstrated a progressive loss of motor control to the neck, wings, and legs. Based on necropsy and/or histopathology of 31 cranes, the most common lesions involved skeletal muscle and included hemorrhages, granulomatous myositis, thrombosis, and vascular degeneration. Serum chemistry results revealed that levels of creatinine kinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were above published normals. However, only alanine aminotransferase was higher in clinically affected cranes than in normal cranes collected from the same area.

Texas↗

USGS1991

Isolation of poxvirus from debilitating cutaneous lesions on four immature grackles (Quiscalus sp.)

Poxvirus was isolated from nodules on four immature grackles ( Quiscalus sp.) collected in two residential areas of Victoria, Texas. All of the birds were emaciated and had nodules on the eyelids, bill, legs, toes, and areas of the skin on the wings, neck, and ventral abdomen. These pox nodules were extensive and probably interfered with both sight and flight. The preliminary diagnosis was confirmed by virus isolation, histopathology, and electron microscopy. Poxvirus was isolated on the chorioallantoic membrane of embryonated hen's eggs and in Muscovy duck embryo fibroblast cell culture. Phaenicia calliphoridae (blowfly) larvae were found in one of the pox nodules, raising the possibility of mechanical transmission of the virus by contaminated adult blowfiles.

Texas↗

USGS1997

Diagnostic findings in the 1992 epornitic of neurotropic velogenic Newcastle disease in double-crested cormorants from the upper midwestern United States

Neurotropic velogenic Newcastle disease (NVND) occurred in juvenile double-crested cormorants, Phalacrocorax auritus , simultaneously in nesting colonies in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska and in Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Ontario during the summer of 1992. Mortality as high as 80%-90% was estimated in some of the nesting colonies. Clinical signs observed in 4- to -6 wk-old cormorants included torticollis, tremors, ataxia, curled toes, and paresis or weakness of legs, wings or both, which was sometimes unilateral. No significant mortality or unusual clinical signs were seen in adult cormorants. Necropsy of 88 cormorants yielded no consistent gross observations. Microscopic lesions in the brain and spinal cord were consistently present in all cormorants from which Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was isolated. Characteristic brain lesions provided rapid identification of new suspect sites of NVND. Lesions were also present in the heart, kidney, proventriculus, spleen, and pancreas but were less consistent or nonspecific. NDV was isolated at the National Wildlife Health Center from 27 of 93 cormorants tested. Virus was most frequently isolated from intestine or brain tissue of cormorants submitted within the first 4wk of the epornitic. Sera collected from cormorants with neurologic signs were consistently positive for NDV antibody.The NDV isolate from cormorants was characterized as NVND virus at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories Ames, Iowa. The NVND virus was also identified as the cause of neurologic disease in a North Dakota turkey flock during the summer of 1992. Although no virus was isolated from cormorants tested after the first month of submissions, brain and spinal cord lesions characteristic of NVND were observed in cormorants from affected sites for 2 mo, at which time nesting colonies dispersed and no more submissions were received. Risk to susceptible populations of both wild avian species and domestic poultry makes early recognition and confirmation of NVND in wild birds a priority.

Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota↗

USGS1943

Age determination in juvenal bobwhite quail

Following methods described by Louis Bureau (1911, 1913) in France, tabulations were made (1) of the ages at which captivity-reared bob-white quail ( Colinus virginianus ) dropped their juvenal remiges, and (2) the rates at which post-juvenal replacement primaries grew. These were arranged so as to permit the determination of age in healthy birds from one to five months of age. The degree of individual variation was much greater than that found by Bureau, however, and limits accuracy in age determination after the 10th week. The post-juvenal wing molt began on the birds' 28th day and ended when the quail were 146 to 154 days old. The post-juvenal body molt was found to take place largely between the 70th and 100th days. The juvenal rectrices were renewed from the 62nd to the 122nd days, the new feathers being as long as their longest coverts when the birds were 116 days old. The color of the tarsi varied from pink, at 32 days of age, to straw color at 60 days, and yellow-gray from 83 to 180 days. At six months, the color of the beak was identical with that of adults. Unlike several other game bird species, the flexibility of the lower jaw was not an accurate index to age in bob-whites older than 11 weeks. Rigor mortis and freezing were found to hinder the testing of this criterion.

American Midland Naturalist↗

USGS1967

Aging mourning doves by outer primary wear

Many immature mourning doves ( Zenaidura macroura ) cannot be aged by the conventional white-tipped primary covert method if molt has proceeded beyond the 7th primary. A new method of aging doves in this group is based on the presence (immature) or absence (adult) of a buff-colored fringe on the tips of the 9th and 10th primaries. Experienced biologists were nearly 100 percent accurate in aging wings of 100 known-age doves from eastern and midwestern states. The technique is not as reliable for doves from southwestern United States because of added feather wear, apparently from harsh vegetative and soil conditions.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1963

A method for drive-trapping dusky grouse

A drive trap, used to capture dusky grouse ( Dendragapus obscurus obscurus ) females and their broods for transplantation, is described. The trap consists of two 75-foot wings, leading to a netting-covered enclosure with a smaller wooden catch box at the rear. A four-man crew finds a brood in open cover and, while one or two men keep the brood under observation, the others rig the trap along the birds' anticipated route to cover. It takes about 10-20 minutes to set up the trap, depending on roughness of terrain, and another 5-60 minutes to make the catch. The trap was tried on seven broods, of which five were caught entire and all but one bird from each of the other two broods were captured. Two additional broods were accidentally flushed before the trap could be used.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1965

Care of captive woodcocks

Numbers of American woodcocks ( Philohela minor ) were held in cages for experimental work lasting several months. Injuries caused by birds attempting to flush were greatly reduced by clipping feathers from one wing, by making cage walls opaque, and by using high cages or false ceilings of fabric. Size of cage was found not to be important, to judge from weight changes, so long as ample food was unmistakably available. Birds were kept in both large and small cages without social conflicts. Cages on the ground proved too unsanitary for long-term use; small steel cages with removable floors were practical but did not solve the sanitation problem. Living earthworms ( Lumbricus terrestris ) were provided daily in amounts roughly equal to weights of birds. Birds gained on this food when worms were offered in suitable ways. The feeding tray recommended is a large roasting pan with a snap-on metal rim that retards loss of worms. Trays contained moist peat in which birds probed for worms. Two efforts to keep woodcocks on a diet of red worms ( Eisenia foetide ) were unsuccessful; use of this worm was considered responsible. Woodcocks were handled and transported for short periods with least injury to them when they were rolled individually in soft bags.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1966

Breeding behavior of immature mourning doves

Some immature mourning doves ( Zenaidura macroura ) are capable of breeding in their first (calendar) year of life. The breeding activities of immatures observed in this study included calling, copulating, and nesting. Development of sexual structures such as cloacal papillae, oviduct openings, and gonads was also regarded as evidence of breeding potential. Immatures were identified principally by white-tipped wing coverts. Sexes were distinguished by behavioral characteristics. Males coo, perform flights, carry nest material, and attend nests during the day and females attend nests at night. Immatures were involved in at least ten nestings on two areas near Tucson, Arizona, in 1963. Five young fledged from these nests.

Arizona↗

USGS1969

Establishing hunting regulations and allowable harvest of mallards in the United States

As a major part of establishing hunting regulations each year in the United States, data for the mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) are examined extensively to estimate the effect of various harvest strategies on the breeding population the following spring. This requires estimates of the breeding-population level and of the production, harvest, and mortality rates. Predictions made at the time hunting regulations are established have been in general agreement with more reliable estimates made after the hunting season when data from banding, kill, and wing surveys are available.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1969

A cable-chain device for locating duck nests

A cable-chain device towed between two vehicles was developed for locating occupied duck nests in brushy, herbaceous, and grassy cover types. Twenty-three of 29 previously located gadwall ( Anas strepera ) and blue-winged teal ( A. discors ) hens were flushed from their nests with the drag for an efficiency of 79 percent. Eighty acres of nesting cover can be searched in 4-6 hours by the method described.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1970

Waterfowl breeding habitat in agricultural and nonagricultural land in Manitoba

Waterfowl populations and habitat characteristics were examined on 33 potholes in each of two 16-square-mile study areas of agricultural and nonagricultural land in southwestern Manitoba. The agricultural land potholes, lacking in or incompletely surrounded by trees, received greater use by lesser scaup ( Aythya affinis ), canvasback ( A. valisineria ), redhead ( A. americana ), coot ( Fulica americana ), and three species of grebes ( Podicipedidae ). The nonagricultural land potholes, completely surrounded by trees, were more attractive to blue-winged teal ( Anas discors ), and mallard ( A. platyrhynchos ), and over twice as many dabbler broods were censused there. Abundant, undisturbed nesting cover may have been the reason for greater dabbler use on the nonagricultural land potholes since chemical and biological properties suggest more fertile conditions in the agricultural land.

Manitoba↗

USGS1976

Duck nesting in fields of undisturbed grass-legume cover

A study of dabbling duck ( Anatinae ) nesting was conducted during 1971-73 on nine 12- to 54-ha Cropland Adjustment Program fields in the prairie pothole region of north-central South Dakota. The tall, dense vegetation was comprised of introduced cool-season grasses and legumes, primarily smooth bromegrass ( Bromus inermis ), intermediate wheatgrass ( Agropyron intermedium ), and alfalfa. Complexes of temporary, seasonal, and semipermanent wetlands surrounded the fields at densities of 1.5-8.1 basins/km2 and areas of 9.4-17.2 ha/km2. Of the 620 nests studied, 38 percent were of blue-winged teal ( Anas discors ), 24 percent were of mallards ( A. platyrhynchos ), and 24 percent were of gadwalls ( A. strepera ). Densities of nests of all species averaged 67, 114, and 47 nests/km2 (3-yr av 77/km2). Calculated hatching rates were 69, 58, and 32 percent (av 56) for the 3 years. Hatchability of eggs in successful nests averaged 97.1 percent. Averages of 4.0, 6.2, and 1.2 ducklings were hatched per hectare in 1971, 1972, and 1973, respectively (3-yr av 3.7/ha).

South Dakota↗

USGS1979

Age determination of mallards

A technique for distinguishing adult from yearling wild mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ), from late winter through the nesting season, was developed by applying discriminant analysis procedures to selected wing feather characters of 126 yearlings and 76 adults (2-year-olds) hand-reared from wild eggs during 1974, 1975, and 1977. Average values for feather characters generally increased as the birds advanced from yearlings to adults. Black-white surface area of greater secondary covert 2 was the single most reliable aging character identified during the study. The error rate was lowest in females (3%) when discriminant functions were used with measurements of primary 1 weight and black-white area of greater secondary covert 2 and in males (9%) when the functions were used with black-white area of greater secondary coverts 1, 2, and 3. Methodology precludes aging of birds in the field during capture operations.

North Dakota↗

USGS1976

Avian botulism epizootiology on sewage oxidation ponds in Utah

In the microenvironment concept of avian botulism epizootiology, it is hypothesized that invertebrate carcasses may serve both as a substrate for toxin production by Clostridium botulinum type C and as a vehicle for toxin transmission to water birds. We field-tested that hypothesis by attempting to induce botulism in wing-clipped mallard ducks ( Anas platyrhynchos ) on sewage oxidation ponds in Utah. The experimental ponds were inoculated with C. botulinum spores in June 1974. Aquatic insect populations were monitored throughout the summer. Rotenone was used in August to kill insects in two ponds (one served as control), thereby providing potential substrate for clostridial growth and toxin production. Botulism was not detected among the birds even though they routinely ingested invertebrate carcasses. Samples of dead invertebrates contained no botulinum toxin. We concluded that the microenvironment concept, as it now stands, cannot always be a sufficient explanation of how type C botulism epizootics are initiated in nature. Other microbes may inhibit the growth of clostridial cells or destroy botulinum toxin.

Utah↗

USGS1979

Primary feather molt of adult mourning doves in North and South Carolina

Examination of 8,141 adult mourning doves ( Zenaida macroura ) in North and South Carolina revealed that substantial numbers complete primary feather molt in September. Adult mourning doves shed primaries at the rate of 1 per 14 days. No difference was found in this rate between sexes or among years, 1969-74. The initiation of molt differed from year to year, and female molt always preceded male molt. Available data show that southern doves complete primary molt a month earlier than northern doves. Therefore, age based on primary molt can be biased upward if all molt-complete wings from southern hunting samples are considered immature.

North Carolina, South Carolina↗

USGS1978

Interpreting the results of nesting studies

Nesting studies are used to assess the production of birds and to evaluate nesting habitats. Most such studies involve finding nests in a given area and subsequently determining the proportion that hatched. Unfortunately, the results are often biased by unrecognized differences in the probabilities of finding successful and unsuccessful nests. The observed hatch rates of 1,900 nests of blue-winged teal ( Anas discors ) are presented to illustrate the relationship of hatch rates to time remaining until the nests should hatch. The Mayfield method of correcting for these biases is illustrated. Other examples demonstrate the possible effects of sampling procedures on observed hatch rates and nest density.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗

USGS1988

Guild structure of a riparian avifauna relative to seasonal cattle grazing

The avifauna within the willow ( Salix spp.) community on the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was dominated (96% of all observations each year) by 11 species of passerine birds during the summers of 1980-81. Using 28 vegetation variables measured or calculated for randomly selected points and points where birds were sighted, we assigned the species to 3 distinct response guilds relative to historical patterns of seasonal grazing. A eurytopic response guild (habitat generalists) included yellow warblers ( Dendroica petechia ) (YEWA), savannah sparrows ( Passerculus sandwichensis ) (SASP), and song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) (SOSP). A stenotopic response guild (habitat specialists) included willow flycatchers ( Empidonax traillii ) (WIFL). Lincoln's sparrows ( Melospiza lincolnii ) (LISP), and white-crowned sparrows ( Zonotrichia leucophrys ) (WCSP). The intermediate, mesotopic response guild included American robins ( Turdus migratorius ) (AMRO), red-winged blackbirds ( Agelaius phoeniceus ) (RWBL), and brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater ) (BHCO). Population densities of the eurytopic response guild differed little between healthy (historically winter-grazed) and decadent (historically summer-grazed) willow communities within a year. Densities of species in the mesotopic response guild differed more dramatically, and stenotopic response-guild species were absent or accidental in decadent willows. Information on habitat use patterns of the individual species between years supported the definition of response guilds; vegetation structure was most variable in habitats of eurytopic species and least variable in habitats of stenotopic species. Comparisons between used and available vegetation features indicated that species in the stenotopic response guild used locations that differed from random on the basis of bush spacing. We hypothesize that the response-guild structure primarily reflects the impact of cattle upon the horizontal patterning of the vegetative community.

Colorado↗