Winter Foraging Behavior And Aggression Of Diving Ducks In South Carolina
The diving times, diving distances, foraging rates, intraspecific and interspecific interactions between canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria), ring-necked ducks (A. co-Uaris) , lesser scaup (A. affinis) and redheads (A. americana) were studied on coastal winter habitats in South Carolina. Diving times, distances and foraging rates varied between habitats of different water depths and between species, but with few exceptions not between sexes. Canvasbacks were the dominant birds and actively defended foraging sites against other birds, particularly ringnecks. During late winter when food...
