Land Cover Switching in Autumn by Female Mallards in Ohio

Autumn waterfowl habitat management often focuses on providing high energy food resources to attract and concentrate waterfowl for harvest. Similarly, many waterfowl conservation plans assume food resources are the primary, controllable limiting factor influencing waterfowl distribution during migra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of wildlife management 2020-07, Vol.84 (5), p.968-978
Main Authors: SHIRKEY, BRENDAN T., PALUMBO, MATTHEW D., SIMPSON, JOHN W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anas platyrhynchos
Animal behavior
Aquatic birds
Autumn
Bird migration
cover type switching
Depletion
Disturbance
Food
Food resources
Foraging behavior
Foraging habitats
Global positioning systems
GPS
Habitat Relations
Hunting
Land cover
Land use
mallards
Nocturnal
nocturnal foraging
Resource conservation
Resource depletion
Resource management
Satellite navigation systems
Switching
Transmitters
Waterfowl
Wildlife
Wildlife habitats
Wildlife management
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Summary:Autumn waterfowl habitat management often focuses on providing high energy food resources to attract and concentrate waterfowl for harvest. Similarly, many waterfowl conservation plans assume food resources are the primary, controllable limiting factor influencing waterfowl distribution during migration; however, hunting-related disturbance also influences waterfowl distribution in autumn. We investigated factors influencing mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) movements in an intensively hunted and food-rich landscape in Ohio, USA, during autumn of 2015 and 2016. We used locations from female mallards equipped with global positioning system (GPS) back-pack-transmitters to determine the probability of mallards switching land cover types based on seasonal and daily patterns of hunting disturbance and to determine the distances mallards moved between cover types that offer refuge and those that offer food resources as evidence for or against food resource depletion during the hunting season. Mallards switched cover types to exploit food-rich but intensively hunted locations nocturnally and cover type switching during times subject to disturbance increased significantly from the early segment to the late segment of hunting season. Distances mallards moved between refuge cover types and food-rich cover types did not change over the duration of the study. Hunting disturbance is a key variable influencing autumn movements and distribution of mallards, and mallards in a food-rich and intensively hunted landscape likely employ nocturnal foraging as a strategy to survive autumn migration. Nocturnal foraging behavior has consequences for waterfowl managers tasked with providing quality waterfowl hunting opportunities because ducks that forage only at night are largely unavailable to hunters.
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.1002/jwmg.21872