Samuel K. Riffell

Grain sorghum provides energy-rich seeds for waterfowl and may provide important alternative foraging habitat considering a noted decrease of waste agricultural seeds for wintering waterfowl in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. We conducted experiments in 22 sorghum fields in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana during falls 2006-2007 to evaluate abundance of ratoon grain (i.e., post-harvest, second crop), waste grain from the harvested first crop, and natural seeds. Nitrogen fertilized plots in 2007 produced >4 times more ratoon grain (x- = 219.57 ± 39.65 [SE] kg (dry)/ha) than other...

The impacts of many species of piscivorous birds on aquaculture are well documented in the southeastern United States; however, specific studies of black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) in these areas are lacking. Because black-crowned night herons opportunistically exploit abundant food resources and inhabit an important catfish production area, we initiated a study to assess their use of and potential impacts on a catfish aquaculture facility. We conducted a biweekly survey October 2004-September 2006 on Harvest Select Farms near Inverness, Mississippi, to quantify year-...