Gregory D. Balkcom

Survival and Distribution of Black-bellied Whistling-duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) in the Southeastern United States

SEAFWA Journal Volume 6, March 2019

Black-bellied whistling-duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis; BBWD) is a neo-tropical species distributed in coastal areas of northern South Amer- ica, Central America, and southern North America. Despite their pervasiveness, the population distribution, survival, and harvest-mortality of BBWD in the southeastern United States remains unclear. We used BBWD sightings reported to eBird to delineate range expansion from 2006–2016 in Ala- bama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Concurrently, we used band-recovery data from 759 BBWD captured in five states (Georgia,...

An Evaluation of Georgia's Public Mourning Dove Hunting Demand and Opportunity

SEAFWA Journal Volume 4, March 2017
Wildlife Outstanding Technical Paper

Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) provides managed dove fields that are open for public dove hunting. Our goal was to examine public mourning dove hunting demand and opportunity in Georgia along with the spatial and temporal distribution of each. We defined public fields as fields owned or operated by WRD and open to any properly licensed hunter, and we defined public demand as the number of hunters that utilized those fields. We used a hunter survey to estimate the number of public dove hunters, their county of residence, the average number of days afield, and the timing of...

Survival and Recovery Rates of Mottled Ducks in Georgia 2006-2013

SEAFWA Journal Volume 2, March 2015

The mottled duck (Anas fulvigula) naturally occurs in two populations: one in the coastal marsh of the western Gulf of Mexico and another in peninsular Florida. A third, introduced, population occurs on the southern Atlantic coast in South Carolina and Georgia. Most mottled ducks in Georgia occur on Altamaha Wildlife Management Area, McIntosh County. In 2006, we began banding mottled ducks in Georgia using airboats at night and collected banding and recovery data from 2006 through spring 2014. We used Program MARK to estimate survival rates, Seber recovery rates, and Brownie recovery rates...

Importance of Limiting Vehicle Access on Wildlife Management Areas in Middle Georgia for Black Bear Management

SEAFWA Journal Volume 2, March 2015

In Georgia, there are three geographically separated black bear (Ursus americanus) populations (North, Middle, and South). The middle population is the smallest and most isolated. Recent land purchases were made in part to conserve habitat for this population of bears. Our objectives were to determine if: 1) bear use of WMAs changes when the area is open or closed to hunting and 2) bear visitation rates to bear bait stations differ if roads are open to vehicular traffic. Both male and female bears used WMAs more during closed periods (males = 56.8% and females = 76.4%) than during open...

Survival and Recovery of Normal Wild vs. Relocated Adult Resident Canada Geese in Georgia, 2000-2009

Georgia's growing resident (non-migratory) Canada goose (Branta canadensis) population often causes nuisance problems in urban areas. One method of reducing nuisance goose problems is capture and relocation, especially if geese are relocated to rural areas where hunting may occur. To determine if relocated geese have different survival or band recovery rates than normal wild geese, I estimated probabilities of survival and recovery for adult, resident Canada geese between 2000 and 2009 using banding and dead recovery data from normal wild geese and from relocated geese in Georgia....

Estimating Retention Rates of Leather Spacers on Radio Collars for Black Bears in Georgia

We used known-fate analysis in Program MARK to estimate retention rates for radio collars equipped with leather spacers on American black bears (Ursus americanus). We radio collared 72 bears 81 times in the Upper Coastal Plain of middle Georgia along the Ocmulgee River. For the 59 spacers that broke, they lasted an average of 365.5 days (SE = 31.3, 38-782) for males and 519.2 days (SE = 63.4, 139-1482) for females. Retention rate for leather spacers varied by month and sex (x- = 0.8736, SE = 0.0390, n = 50 for males and x- = 0.9391, SE = 0.0231, n = 50 for females). Leather spacers did...