Diet of canvasbacks during breeding
Prairie Naturalist
By: J. E. Austin, J.R. Serie, and J.H. Noyes
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Abstract
We examined diets of canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) breeding in southwestern Manitoba during 1977-81. Percent volume of animal foods consumed did not differ between males and females nor among prenesting, rapid follicle growth, laying, incubation, and renesting periods in females (mean = 50.1%). Tubers and shoots of fennelleaf pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus) and midge larvae (Chironomidae) were the predominant foods, comprising on average 45% and 23% of the diet volume, respectively. Continued importance of plant foods to canvasbacks throughout reproduction contrasts with the mostly invertebrate diets of other prairie-breeding ducks, and does not fit current theories of nutritional ecology of breeding anatids (i.e., females meet the protein requirements of reproduction by consuming a high proportion of animal foods).
Suggested Citation
Austin, J.E., Serie, J., Noyes, J., 1990, Diet of canvasbacks during breeding: Prairie Naturalist, v. 22, no. 3, p. 171-176.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Diet of canvasbacks during breeding |
| Series title | Prairie Naturalist |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Year Published | 1990 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Prairie Naturalist |
| Contributing office(s) | Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center |
| Description | 6 p. |
| First page | 171 |
| Last page | 176 |