Richard A. Malecki

We tracked male mute swans (Cygnus olor) (n = 2) in 2002 and in 2003 (n = 3) using Global Positioning System (GPS) in a 217,500-ha area of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. We quantified habitat use among four habitat categories (submerged aquatic vegetation, open water, shoreline, and upland) and between diurnal and nocturnal periods. Swans did not use habitats in proportion to their availability; they consistently used upland less often than what was available within their home ranges. Most use occurred within submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and open water, which typically were the most...

Avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM), a disease of unknown etiology, was first diagnosed in 1994 (Thomas et al. 1998) as the cause of morbidity and death of American coots (Fulica americana) and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the southeastern United States. The disease, now confirmed on 10 lakes in four southeastern states, also has been found in mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), ring-necked ducks (Aythya collaris), bufflehead (Bucephala albeola),one great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), and a killdeer (Charadrius vociferous). Histological examination of the central nervous system (CNS...

Numbers of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) wintering in North and South Carolina have continued to decline since the mid-1960s. Observations (N = 2,027) from 2,563 neckbanded geese, marked during fall and winter 1983-85, indicate that birds from eastern North Carolina are distinct in migration pattern from birds wintering in South Carolina and probably the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Most sightings (85%) of eastern North Carolina birds, reported from outside the state, were from Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. Geese in these areas are subject to harvest and may represent a...