Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

A management investigation was initiated on Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in 1965 to determine the feasibility of producing pen-reared wood ducks, imprinted to artificial nesting structures, for use in starting new nesting colonies. To date 780 young woodies, imprinted to nest in nest boxes, have been produced, transferred, and released on six national wildlife refuges in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Nesting in artificial structures had not previously occurred on three of these refuges. Transplanted birds nested in boxes on four of the release sites the first nesting season after release, including three refuges with no history of nest box use. The second season after release over 50 nesting attempts occurred on one refuge that had no previous use of nest boxes by wood ducks.

On November 24, 1973. pound-size channel catfish, which had previously been fed intensively for 6 months, were weighed and measured and placed back into nine 1/10-acre earthen ponds at the rate of 2,000 per acre. The fish were managed through the winter until the following March 4 on one of three feeding regimes; no feeding; feeding 1% of fish weight on alternate days; and feeding 1% offish weight only on "warm" days or when water temperature at a 3-foot depth was above 54 F. Fish not fed lost 99V of their weight during the I00-day over-winter period. those fed on alternate days received feed on 51 days and gained 23%. and those fed on the "'warm" days received feed on 52 days and gained 190/0. Condition factors increased for both groups of fed fish but decreased for the nonfed fish. Length increased slightly for all groups. Although the nonfed fish lost weight.

Use of lethal dosages of tribromoethanol-treated grain in wild turkey trapping operations, followed by prompt use of two stimulants (pure caffeine in sodium benzoate and amphetamine sulfate) and other treatment procedures improved capture success and minimized mortality. In the last decade L. E. Williams and colleagues (1966, 1967, 1970) in Florida reported increasingly improved success in capturing wild turkeys by means of oral drugs. In recent years other states-among them Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia-have used the technique. North Carolina turkeys are often sowary at trap sites that drugs offer the most effective means of capturing them, particularly in winter and early spring. In North Carolina, where wild-trapped stock is difficult and expensive to obtain, 27 turkeys were captured by means of tribomoethanol in 1971 and 37 in 1972, following generally the procedures described by Williams et al. (1970).

During 1975·1976, 9 wood duck (Aix sponsa) hens with broods were tracked via radio telemetry on beaver (Castor canadensis) pond habitats in the piedmont region of South Carolina. The mobility of all broods was greatest during the first week of rearing, and decreased thereafter. The size of the area utilized was also greatest during week I and with the exception of 2 broods, decreased in subsequent weeks. Cumulative home range size stabilized for 3 broods during the third and fourth week, whereas for others, it increased throughout the rearing period. Total home range size varied greatly among broods, but broods consistently utilized a major portion of the potential available habitats. Wood duck broods utilired all habitat types within the respective beaver ponds, but were seldom observed in the non-vegetated, open water sections. The use of small beaver ponds (0.03-0.50 ha) by wood duck broods was significantly less than the use of large beaver ponds (1.51-3.80 ha).

The effects of several site preparation treatments on winter deer food yield and rabbit utilization were studied in one to four year old loblolly pine plantations in Kemper County, Mississippi. Winter deer food availability ranged from 5-20 times greater on clearcut and site prepared areas than on the uncut forest. The bedded treatment produced the highest amount of winter food. However, rabbit utilization was much lower on the bedded areas than on the sheared and chopped treatments.

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 resources were presumed limited, male canvasbacks excluded females from preferred foraging sites. Temporal and/or spatial segregation of habitats between sexes of the other species was not demonstrated. Exclusion of individuals from optimal winter foraging areas may have significant implications affecting population dynamics of waterfowl.

Between January 1976 and June 1978, environmental factors were analyzed to evaluate the fate of 480 dummy nests and 38 Attwater's prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido allwaten) nests. Fifty-eight percent of both dummy nests and Attwater's prairie chicken nests were destroyed by predators. Analysis of these data indicated that nest success was affected by density of nests, proximity of artificial environmental factors to nesting areas, and time of year. Vegetation type appeared to have no influence on predation rates. Predation on nests of ground-nesting upland game birds does not appear to be haphazard or random.

Food habits of river otters (Lutra canadensis) in Alabama and Georgia were studied using 315 digestive tracts from otters taken by trappers during the 1973-74 through 1976-77 trapping seasons. Additionally, 12 scats were collected during and immediately following the 1975-76 trapping season. Fish occurred in 83.2% of the digestive tracts and in 91.7% of the scats. Fishes of the following families were found in the frequency percentages indicated; Centrarchidae, 53.6%; Castomidae, 12.1%; Ictaluridae, 10.5%; Amiidae and Aphredoderidae, 8.2%; Cyprinidae, 6.3%; Esocidae, 5.1 %; Clupeidae, 1.6%; Cyprinodontidae, Poeciliidae, and Percidae, 0.6%; Hiodontidae, 0.3%; and unclassified fish 3.2%. Crayfish were recovered from 62.5% of the digestive tracts and from 7 of 12 (58.3%) scats. FTogs and a salamander together made up 5.1% of the food remains.

Biological data were collected over a 3 year period (1974-1977) from an old channelized segment (55 years), an unchannelized segment and a newly channelized segment (4 years) of the Luxapalila River in Mississippi and Alabama. This study revealed that furbeal'er habitat in the channelized segments has not recovered to the level exhibited in the unchannelized segment. Indices of furbearer abundance were obtained by night lighting and sign counting. Beaver (Castor canadensis), mink (Mustela vison), muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), and raccoon (Procyon lotor) were more numerous in the unchannelized segment than in either the old or newly channelized segments.

The 1975 Christmas Bird Count was divided into 10 blocks, each comprising 100 observation units, encompassing the continental United States and Alaska. A random sample of 10 observation units was drawn from each block, assuring an even distribution over the continental United States and Alaska. Nine major metropolitan areas which were not drawn in the random sample were also studied. Each unit in the sample was examined for each of the years 1956, 1966, 1973, 1974 and 1975. The occurrence and number of each was recorded for all sample units for all years. Results indicated that a total of 30 exotic bird species were observed in Christmas Bird Counts. The greatest variety of species was found around the major cities studied especially Miami, FL. and Los Angeles, CA.

The Tennessee Game and Fish Commission has successfully utilized radiology for the following purposes: (I) determining the effects of hunting season closure on geese (Gore and Barstow 1969), (2) predicting annual productivity of deer (Lewis 1962, Whitehead 1966), and (3) determining lead shot ingestion in doves (Lewis and Legler 1968). Because of this experience'3nd the results of others, we feel that radiology has significant potential for use in wildlife research. This paper briefly presents our use of x-ray equipment and film processing. A detailed paper can be obtained from the senior author.

The public has increasingly encouraged our state wildlife departments to become involved with management of non-game and endangered species. Some Departments have indicated that they do not have the funds for such work since they are being financed mainly by the hunter and fisherman. However, many state wildlife departments have hired one or more non-game biologists or have given these added responsibilities to their game and fish personnel. Consequently, a few individuals are often called upon to collect and disseminate relatively accurate information on a large number of speicies in a comparatively short time. This otherwise impossible task can be accomplished if the biologist will utilize the public. The positive factors for utilizing the public in simple but extensive research, especially when the species is rare and difficult to encounter, far outweigh the negative factors. Organization and planning are the keys to success.

Damage to forest plantations, fruit orchards, and nurseries by mice of the genus Microtus has caused serious economic losses, particularly in northern and eastern North America (Cayford and Haig 1961; Jokela and Lorenz 1959; Libby and Abrams 1966; Littlefield, Shoomaker, and Cook 1946; Sartz 1970). In southeastern United States damage to plantations of pines is increasing in importance. Two species of Microtus, the prairie vole (Microtus ochror;aster) and the pine vole (M. pinetorum), are widely distributed and capable of inflicting serious damage. This paper reports on the results of a field test designed to study the usefulness of two rodenticides for controlling prairie voles in Virginia pine plantations in Tennessee.

A heavily hunted turkey (Meleagris gal!opavo osceola) population was monitored by radio-tracking during 6 hunting seasons. In the sample of 125 radioinstrumented birds, there was no difference in the rate of harvest of turkeys that had been transplanted to the area and those that had been captured on the area, or between adults and juveniles or between males and females. Nearly all harvest in the sample occurred during the first week in the 3 hunting seasons that both sexes were legal game. Harvest was more evenly distributed throughout the 7-week-Iong season when only gobblers were legal. Instrumented birds were not crippled and unretrieved, because cripples were retrieved by other hunters. Movement behavior of the turkeys was not greatly affected by hunting, but turkeys hid from hunters at times.

A total of 112 standardized counts of roosting ducks were made at 4 roosts within 2 typical northeastern North Carolina swamps from Sepember-March, 1972-73 and 1973-74. Zero to 60 ducks were observed per count with an overall average of 7.5. Approximately 97% of all ducks observed were wood ducks (Aix sponsa). No differences in numbers of roosting ducks were detected between years or swamps in spite of major watershed differences. However roost site differences within a swamp and several year interactions were important. A significant cubic relationship over time was noted in the average number of ducks observed per count with a peak occurring in late October and early November. Approximately 8% of all ducks observed during the counts were singles and 70% were in flocks of greater than 2 birds. Over 96% of the ducks arrived at roosts after sunset during the November-January hunting-season period whereas overall only 72% of the ducks arrived after sunset.

Two-year studies were conducted in 3 earthen raceways (160 m x 6 m x 2 m). One raceway was maintained at ambient water temperature, I had a heated floating plume over 60% of the surface, and 1 was maintained at near heated water discharge temperature. Average water temperatures ranging up to 36.7 C were not lethal for any fish species tested. With the possible exception of threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) 110 difference in long-term survival of any species was detected, but when the entire population was considered as a whole, survival of fishes confined to the highest temperatures was reduced. Growth rates of largemouth (Micropterus salmoides) and spotted basses (M. punctatus), channel catfish (Ictaluras punctatus), redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus, and gizzard shad (D. cepedianum) in at least 1 of the heated water treatments exceeded growth in the control. Total standing crop and growth rates of bluegill (L.

Techniques were investigated for growing rainbow trout, Salmo gairdnerii Richardson, from fingerlings to market size during the winter months in a recirculation, flowing water fish culture system where channel catfish, lctalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) are grown in summer. Trout stocked having a mean weight of 0.1 Ib had a mean weight of 0.7 Ib in approximately 100 days with a feed conversion ratio of 1.29 to I. Survival of the fish was 82%. Water quality parameters and control of parasite infestations during the culture period are also discussed.

Results from experimental studies conducted on 2 southeastern game farms showed that the Indian Red Junglefowl (Gallus g. murghl) was a capable reservoir host for blackhead disease (histomoniasis, enterohepatitis), and indicated that some junglefowl released in range of the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) were carriers of blackhead. Since blackhead has been a major disease problem in southeastern wild turkey populations, the disease potential should be carefully considered prior to any future releases of junglefowl.

Spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) and red drum (Sciaenops ocellata) populations in Texas bays were randomly sampled with 183 m long gill nets November 1975 through March 1976 and November 19'76 through March 1977. Catch rates in areas closed to commercial netting for spotted seatrout were about twice as high as those from areas open to netting. There was no difference between the mean total length of spotted scatrout from closed areas and trout from open areas. Closed areas produced about twice as many red drum as open areas. No generalizatilln could be made about the size of red drum and whether they were caught in open or closed areas. Apparently, the effect of commercial netting on these species is local. When spotted seatrout and red drum are removed from netted areas, populations in adjacent non netted areas are not appreciably affected.

The roller-net, a new fisheries sampling gear incorporating features common to the pushnet and bag seine, is described. The roller-net is compared with nearshore gear types, including pushnet, bag seine, and minnow seine, in beachfront, grassbed, barren sand-shell, and soft organic substrates. The roller-net is effective in sampling nekton from grassbed and barren sand-shell substrates, but ineffective in characterizing beachfront and soft organic substrates.

The abundance of various species of wildlife in marshes and ponds influenced by weirs was measured and compared to similar data collected on non-wetTed or control areas from January through December, 1974. Weirs were constructed in marsh drainage systems and held water levels in ponds and bayous several inches below the elevation of the adjacent marsh; however, control areas were subjected to natural tidal influences. Greater duck, coot, and non-game bird usage was found in ponds influenced by weirs, especially during low water periods occurring in the winter. Field data indicated that weirs had no measurable effects on fur bearer or small mammal populations, with the exception of swamp rabbits. Whether populations were high or low was generally independent of the influence of weirs in the areas surveyed. Survey methods most reliable were aerial bird counts and ground counts of muskrat beds and nutria trails.