Cavity-Nesting Birds of North American Forests: Agriculture Handbook 511Scott, Virgil E.
Science
Cavity-Nesting Birds of North American Forests: Agriculture Handbook 511
Scott, Virgil E.
Birds -- Nests; Birds -- North America; Cavity-nesting birds -- North America; Forest birds -- North America
Food: Wood ducks consume large quantities of acorns, usually in flooded
bottoms. Other mast and fleshy fruits also are eaten, as are waste corn
and wheat (Bellrose 1976). Smartweed, buttonbush, bulrush, pondweed,
cypress, ash, sweet gum, burweed, and arrow arum seeds are used by
breeding birds. Skunk cabbage, coontail, and duckweed are also food
items. Duckweed is also habitat for invertebrates in the diet (Grice and
Rogers 1965).
Common goldeneye
_Bucephala clangula_
L 13″ W 31″
[Illustration]
Habitat: The breeding range of the common goldeneye generally coincides
with the boreal coniferous forest in North America (Johnsgard 1975,
Bellrose 1976). In a Minnesota study, 87 percent of breeding goldeneyes
were found on large, sand-bottomed fish lakes (Johnson 1967), while in
New Brunswick, this species preferred water areas with marshy shores and
adjacent stands of old hardwoods (Carter 1958). In Maine, nests are
found in mature hardwoods adjacent to lakes with rocky shores, hard
bottoms, and clear water. Shoal waters less than 10 feet deep with an
irregular shoreline provide brood shelter and protective vegetation
necessary for duckling food (Gibbs 1961).
Nest: Common goldeneyes used and were more successful in open top or
“bucket” cavities than in enclosed cavities in New Brunswick (Prince
1968). Most nests were in silver maples on wetter sites or American elms
on drier sites and aspen in northern conifer forests. Nest trees
averaged 23 inches in diameter with cavity dimensions of 8 inches in
diameter and 18 inches deep; most entrances were 6 to 40 feet above
ground (Prince 1968). Wooden nest boxes measuring 12 × 12 × 24 inches
with elliptical entrances 3½ × 4½ inches were used extensively in
Minnesota (Johnson 1967).
Food: Of 395 stomachs examined by Cottam (1939), crustaceans (32
percent), insects (28 percent), and molluscs (10 percent) were primary
animal foods (total, 73.9 percent). Crabs, crayfish, amphipods,
caddisfly larvae, water boatmen, naiads of dragonflies, damselflies, and
mayflies were also found. Pondweed, wild celery, and seeds of pondweed
and bulrushes were important plant materials.
Barrow’s goldeneye
_Bucephala islandica_
L 13″ W 31″
[Illustration]
Habitat: Barrow’s goldeneyes attain their highest breeding population
levels in western North America on moderately alkaline lakes of small to
medium size in parkland areas. Open water is a necessity throughout the
range, but frequently goldeneyes favor a dense growth of submerged
aquatics such as sago pondweed and widgeon grass. The abundance of
aquatic invertebrates may be more important than nesting cavities in
determining distribution (Johnsgard 1975).
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