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A Yashica Sequelle camera was modified and equipped with a timing device so that it would take pictures automatically at 15-minute intervals. Several of these cameras were used to photograph randomly selected quadrats located in different marsh habitats. The number of birds photographed in the different areas was used as an index of waterfowl use.
Age of woodcock ( Philohela minor ) can be accurately determined throughout the year by differences in pattern, color, and wear of secondary feathers. Immature woodcock retain most secondaries during the postjuvenal molt that begins in July or August and ends in October. In contrast, subadults (first-year adults) and older woodcock molt all secondaries during the postnuptial molt beginning in June or July and ending in October. Retention of juvenal secondaries by immatures and molt of these feathers by adults form the basis for age determination. Sex of woodcock can be accurately determined by width of the outer three primaries, which are conspicuously narrower on males.
A sick mourning dove ( Zenuidura macroura ) collected in Maryland with 2 lead shot in the gizzard showed acid-fast intranuclear inclusion bodies in the kidney tubular cells. The liver and the tibia contained 72 ppm and 187 ppm lead (wet weight) respectively. Four gizzards from 62 doves killed by hunters contained lead shot. The lead content of 43 dove livers ranged from 0.4-14.0 ppm (wet weight); 40 of these doves were collected by hunters, and the other 3 were dying of trichomoniasis.
Colored plastic adhesive tape wrapped around the tarsus has been used successfully for color-marking birds and has proved to be easy to put on, adaptable, permanent, and colorfast.
Reward bands placed on the other leg of certain regularly banded immature mourning doves ( Zenaidura macroura ) were used to develop information on reporting rates of recovered dove bands. Reports from 15 widely separated sections of the United States showed considerable variation in recovery rate of doves both with and without reward bands. The overall percentages of banded doves that were reported as recovered were 9.69% for those with reward bands and 3.83% for controls. The bandreporting rate for states influenced by publicity was 66%; that for states not influenced was 32%.
The habits of the redhead duck ( Aythya americana ) were studied in the Flathead Valley of western Montana in 1960 and 1961 to determine their habitat preferences in this pothole breeding ground. The 2,600-acre study area, surrounding the Ninepipe Reservoir, contained 686 potholes. Redheads usually were paired by the time they arrived on the study area in March. The average density of redhead breeding pairs was 25 pairs per square mile. For all spring activities except nesting, the birds used large, deep, open potholes or breeding-pair potholes. The several breeding-pair potholes and the nesting pothole utilized by the pair comprised their home range. Starting in late April, the pairs moved about the home range as the hens selected nesting sites, usually in the dense emergent vegetation of small, shallow potholes. Hard-stem bulrush ( Scirpus acutus ) and cat-tail ( Typha latifolia ) were preferred nesting cover. Redhead nesting success was only 15 percent, a low rate apparently caused by degenerate nesting behavior complicated by high redhead density, a lack of suitable nest hosts, and certain habitat deficiencies. By late June most drakes and unsuccessful hens had moved from the potholes to nearby reservoirs. All successful hens led their newly hatched broods from the nesting potholes to larger brood potholes and many eventually moved to the reservoir. By mid-July virtually all redheads had moved from the potholes to the reservoirs, where they remained until fall migration.
Construction of a flexible plastic collar for marking geese is described. The usefulness of the collars, tried on 468 Canada geese ( Branta canadensis ) at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge from 1963 to 1965, was compared with that of nasal discs attached to 361 Canada geese at Seney in 1961 and 1962. The collars were superior to the discs in visibility, retention, and ease of placement, and injury to the geese was eliminated. There was no evidence that the collars affected breeding behavior.
A few more than one-third of the goose and brant bands recovered by hunters were reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory (a rate of 0.361) during the 1962-64 hunting seasons. We calculated this band-reporting rate by comparing the estimated number of goose and brant bands recovered by hunters, based on a mail questionnaire survey, with the number of bands actually reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory. This band-reporting rate is probably representative only of the 1962-65 period. It is likely that, in earlier years, a greater proportion (perhaps about 0.60) of recovered goose and brant bands were reported.
Studies conducted 1961-65 at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in New York demonstrated that mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and black ducks ( Anas rubripes ) make extensive use of stumps and dead snags for nest sites. Nest densities in timbered habitats compared favorably with those in untimbered habitats. Nest success was generally higher in timbered than in untimbered areas, except for a newly flooded impoundment where nest success was poor. A simple artificial nest structure was used to increase the number of available nest sites in some of the timbered habitats. Development of stump-nesting populations of ducks may furnish a means of increasing waterfowl production in forested areas.
The acute toxicity of lead, three types of plastic-coated lead, two lead-magnesium alloys, iron, copper, zinc-coated iron, and molybdenum-coated iron shot were tested in year-old male game farm mallards. Mallards ( Anus platyrhynchos ) were fed eight number 6 shot of each type and observed for a period of 60 days. Ducks used totaled 230 and most shot types were tested in three replicates of 8 ducks each. Mortality and losses of body weight were the criteria used for judging toxicity. Three types of plastic-coated lead shot were as toxic (93 percent) as the commercial lead shot (96 percent). The average mortality in mallards fed lead-magnesium alloy shot was less (58 percent) than that occurring in birds fed commercial lead shot. Mortality among mallards fed iron, copper, zinc-coated iron or molybdenum-coated iron shot was significantly less than in birds fed lead shot, and was not significantly greater than the conrtols.
An analysis was made of eight insecticide residues in the renal fat tissue of 23 white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), 13 mule deer ( O. hemionus ), 9 pronghorns ( Antilocapra americana ), and 2 elk ( Cervus canadensis ) collected in South Dakota during the fall of 1964. Identification and quantitative analysis of the insecticide residues were accomplished by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography. Eighty-five percent of the samples had residues of DDT with an average of 0.13 ppm. DDD residues were found in 11 percent of the samples, DDE in 38 percent, dieldrin in 38 percent, and lindane in 15 percent, with an average of 0.07, 0.04, 0.03, and 0.04 ppm, respectively. Heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, and aldrin were not detected in concentrations above the limits of the experiment set by the investigators.
Adult females in a cottontail ( Sylvilagus floridanus ) population produced seven or eight litters during the 1961 breeding season. A synchrony of the conception dates was maintained throughout the breeding season. Data about ovulation rate, prenatal mortality, and litter size for each litter are presented. The first litter was smallest, averaging about three young, and the remaining litters ranged between five and six young. The last four litters may be slightly smaller than the second and third litters of the season. The total annual production of young by an adult female would be approximately 35.
Nestling mourning doves ( Zenaidura macroura ) were banded and checked for band loss prior to fledging at Parchman, Mississippi, during the months of June-August, 1960. Three hundred seventy-seven nestlings 4-6 days of age were banded, 117 with size 3 bands, 120 with size 3A bands, and 140 with size 3A bands secured by Dalzoflex tape. Two hundred twenty nestlings 7-9 days of age were banded, 114 with size 3 bands and 106 with size 3A bands. In the 4- to 6-day age group, 66.3 percent of the size 3A bands were lost. This was a statistically significant departure from the 7.7 percent loss of size 3 bands. No taped bands were lost. However, predators ate 13.8 percent of the nestlings with taped bands and significantly fewer of the nestlings banded without tape. In the 4- to 6-day age group, percentages of nestlings known to be available for band recovery at 9 days or older were: size 3, 69.2 percent; size 3A with tape, 59.0 percent; size 3A, 25.8 percent. In the 7-to 9-day age group, there was a 3.3 percent loss of size 3A bands and no loss of size 3 bands. The minimum age at which nestlings were banded without subsequent loss of bands was 6 days for size 3 and 8 days for size 3A.
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.
Filarioid worms ( Dirofilaria immitis , D. tenuis , Dipetalonema procyonis , and D. llewellyni ) were discovered in raccoons ( Procyon lotar ) in Maryland. Raccoons were trapped in lowland, upland, and agricultural-residential areas, which were further classified as stream borders, poorly drained, and well drained. Data on incidence of D. llewellyni were analyzed on basis of host distribution within these areas to indicate type of habitat in which one might seek the vector. It was concluded that exposure takes place in the spring of the year. The arthropod found associated most often with the raccoon in spring was Ixodes texanus . Larvae of this tick which were fed on infected raccoons presented no evidence of development of the microfilariae. Feeding experiments were also conducted with mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti , A. canadensis , A. sollicitans , A. triseriatus , A. vexans , Culex pipiens , Anopheles punctipennis , and A. quadrimaculatus . Although microfilariae remained alive and active in the gut contents of all these mosquitoes for 2 days, only in Aedes aegypti did they enter the hemocele, but no developmental changes were noted and all microfilariae were dead by the eighth day. Although the intermediate host of D. llewellyni was not determined, evaluation of the accumulated data provides criteria for seeking the vector. It appeared unlikely that exposure of the raccoons took place in the den or that the filarioids were transmitted by an ectoparasite commonly found in raccoon dens. The data suggest that the vector is available only early in spring, although there are infected raccoons throughout the year. Prevalence in juveniles was 21 percent; in subadults, 64 percent; in adults, 87 percent.
A simple animal support constructed of web belts to hold skittish pigs for weighing was developed. The support is easily made, noninjurious to the pigs, and compact, facilitating rapid, accurate weighing. With minor modifications, the support can probably be used in weighing other animals.
During hunting seasons from 1959 to 1962, age and sex determined from 45,444 wings were used to measure annual productivity of woodcocks ( Philohela minor ). Age of birds was determined by pattern and color of secondaries and by wear on primaries. Sex was determined by width and length of primaries. Overall age ratios, weighted by kill estimates, were the same each year and indicated no change in annual productivity. Immature sex ratios in the combined kill were nearly even each year, but kill of adult females was much larger than kill of adult males. The difference in sex ratios between immatures and adults thus suggests higher mortality of males than females after the first hunting season. Since woodcocks are promiscuous, an unbalanced adult sex ratio in favor of females probably does not reduce productivity. There are, however, factors affecting reliability of information deduced from wing collections, and further research is necessary to answer questions on differential vulnerability and mortality rates.
The effects on woodcocks ( Philohela minor ) of eating heptachlor-contaminated earthworms were studied experimentally in a series of feeding trials in Louisiana in the winter of 1960-61. Six of 12 woodcocks fed worms which had been contaminated at an average of 2.86 ppm of heptachlor epoxide died within 35 days; 4 more had died by the fifty-third day, when the other 2 were killed for analysis. Worms from areas in Louisiana treated with 2 pounds of heptachlor per acre often contain more than 3 ppm of heptachlor epoxide. Eleven of 12 woodcocks fed worms contaminated at an average of 0.65 ppm survived the full 60 days of the experiment; one died on the forty-fifth day, apparently from other causes. All 11 untreated birds survived. Survivors were kept on one-quarter rations of untreated worms for 11 days. Two woodcocks, untreated previously, died during this starvation period. Five previously treated died; two were observed in spasms at death, and these contained 5.9 and 7.2 ppm heptachlor epoxide in their tissues, suggesting that the previous contaminated diet may have influenced mortality, even though the difference between two of nine dying and five of nine dying is not statistically significant. Surviving starved birds given an unrestricted supply of treated or untreated worms for 5 days survived and gained weight. Residues accumulated in their tissues in this time approached levels in birds that died of heptachlor poisoning. Residues in tissues of birds with different histories suggested residue loss at a rate of approximately 2.8 percent per day. Toxicant absorption was estimated to be in the approximate range of 16-20 percent. Residues in birds fed worms containing 0.65 ppm heptachlor epoxide were in the same general magnitude as those in field-caught birds, suggesting a similar average contamination of food supply. Weights and weight changes did not differ significantly between untreated birds and those receiving the lower level of toxicant. Among birds on one-quarter rations, the percentage of weight that could be lost without danger seemed to be near 20 percent. Woodcocks ate 18-208 grams of worms per day (average, 121 grams), representing 11-143 percent (average, 77 percent) of their body weights; birds ate contaminated and uncontaminated food in essentially equivalent amounts. Symptoms of heptachlor poisoning differed considerably between birds.