Waterfowl of North America: Frontmatter & Preface

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1 University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Waterfowl of North America, Revised Edition (2010) Papers in the Biological Sciences 2010 Waterfowl of North America: Frontmatter & Preface Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pajohnsgard@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: Part of the Ornithology Commons Johnsgard, Paul A., "Waterfowl of North America: Frontmatter & Preface" (2010). Waterfowl of North America, Revised Edition (2010) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Waterfowl of North America, Revised Edition (2010) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

2 Revised edition

3 Waterfowl of North America by Paul A. Johnsgard We cannot expect to learn from or communicate directly with waterfowl; they speak separate languages, hear different voices, know other sensory worlds. They transcend our own perceptions, make mockery of our national boundaries, ignore our flyway concepts. They have their own innate maps, calendars, and compasses, each older and more remarkable than our own. We can only delight in their flying skills, marvel at their regular and precise movements across our continent, take example from their persistence in the face of repeated disaster. They are a microcosm of nature, of violent death and abundant rebirth, of untrammeled beauty and instinctive grace. We should be content to ask no more of them than that they simply exist, and we can hope for no more than that our children might know and enjoy them as we do. from Part I Bird lovers and sportsmen will treasure and learn from every page of this information-packed, up-to-date, and lavishly illustrated volume, written by one of the world s foremost authorities on waterfowl. Professional biologists, ornithologists, conservationists, and others concerned with the breeding and management of waterfowl will find it the most comprehensive and authoritative compendium of data in print for all of the nearly sixty species of ducks, geese, and swans known to breed in North America. For each species the distribution (with range maps for all breeding species), weightsand measurements, information on identification in the hand and in the field, criteria for determining age and sex, and North American subspecies are given. Each species description also includes detailed accounts of preferred habitat, food, ecology, migratory movements, sociality, age at maturity, nest location, clutch size, incubation and fledging periods, pairing and flocking behavior, and copulatory, nesting, brooding, and postbreeding behavior. Preliminary chapters deal with migration and distribution patterns, hunting and recreational values, and an introduction to waterfowl biology in general. Illustrated with over sixty detailed waterfowl line drawings, thirty-one color photographs, and ninety-six black and white photographs, this is the definitive work on its subject and a treasury of information for biologists, ornithologists, waterfowl hunters, and bird lovers.

4 Paul A. Johnsgard, emeritus professor of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, is author of Handbook of Waterfowl Behavior; Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World; Cranes of the World; Grouse and Quails of North America; Waterfowl: Their Biology and Natural History, and more than forty other books.

5 Waterfowl of North America

6 Labrador Ducks. Watercolor By Sir Peter Scott

7 UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN LIBRARIES LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 2010

8 The publishers and the author gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the International Wild Waterfowl Association. First published and copyright 1975 by Indiana University Press Revised electronic edition published 2010 by University of Nebraska Lincoln Libraries and copyright 2010 by Paul A. Johnsgard. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Johnsgard, Paul A. Waterfowl of North America. Bibliography Includes index. 1. Waterfowl-North America. I. Title. QL696.A5J

9 Dedicated to JEAN DELACOUR AND PETER SCOTT Whose Work Has Provided the Foundation for My Own Efforts

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12 Black Duck 244 Bahama Pintail 254 Pintail 257 Garganey 268 Pochards (Tribe Aythyini) Canvasback 302 Redhead 313 Ring-necked Duck 325 Sea Ducks (Tribe Mergini) Common Eider 362 King Eider 374 Spectacled Eider 383 Steller Eider 392 Labrador Duck 401 Harlequin Duck 403 Oldsquaw 414 Black Scoter 424 Surf Scoter 432 Stiff-tailed Ducks (Tribe Oxyurini) Name Derivations Sources Index Masked Duck 520 Blue-winged Teal 270 Cinnamon Teal 281 Northern Shoveler 290 Tufted Duck 336 Greater Scaup 339 Lesser Scaup 349 White-winged Scoter 439 Bufflehead 451 Barrow Goldeneye 462 Common Goldeneye 472 Hooded Merganser 484 Smew 493 Red-breasted Merganser 496 Common Merganser (Goosander) 506 Ruddy Duck TABLES 1. Habitat preferences of North American waterfowl Winter survey population distribution, by flyways, Summary of Mexican winter waterfowl surveys Estimated average annual harvests, Canada and the United States Summary of Audubon Christmas counts, BREEDING AND WINTERING DISTRIBUTION MAPS The page numbers for the breeding and wintering distribution maps may be found in the index under the species' vernacular names. VIII CONTENTS

13 Plates Frontispiece: Labrador Ducks. Following page 50 Trumpeter Swan Lesser Snow Goose (Blue Phase) Lesser Canada Goose Atlantic Brant Barnacle Goose Wood Duck American Wigeon Gadwall Green-winged Teal Mexican Mallard Florida Mallard Northern Pintail Blue-winged Teal Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Watercolor by SIR PETER SCOTT Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Greater Scaup King Eider Steller Eider Oldsquaw Harlequin Duck Surf Scoter Bufflehead Barrow Goldeneye Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Common Merganser Ruddy Duck Fulvous Whistling Duck Cuban Whistling Duck Black-bellied Whistling Duck Mute Swan Trumpeter Swan Whistling Swan Following page 210 White-fronted Goose Lesser Snow Goose Ross Goose Emperor Goose Canada Goose Barnacle Goose IX

14 Brant Goose Muscovy Duck Wood Duck European Wigeon American Wigeon Falcated Duck Gadwall Baikal Teal American Green-winged Teal Common Mallard Mexican Mallard Florida Mallard Northern Pintail Bahama Pintail Garganey Blue-winged Teal Following page 338 Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Tufted Duck Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Common Eider King Eider Spectacled Eider Steller Eider Oldsquaw Harlequin Duck Black Scoter Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Bufflehead Following page 450 Barrow Goldeneye Common Goldeneye Smew Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Common Merganser Masked Duck Ruddy Duck X PLATES

15 Preface It was with a considerable degree of hesitation that, during the winter of , I sat down and contemplated the scope and structure of a possible book on the waterfowl of North America. On my bookshelf behind me were copies of A. C. Bent's Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl, F. H. Kortright's The Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America, and Jean Delacour's The Waterfowl of the World. My task, as I saw it, was to try to develop a book that might be useful to the greatest number of people without seriously overlapping with any of these great works. Bent's classic volumes had admirably summarized the early "life history" information. Kortright's book has been the standard reference for waterfowl illustrations and plumage descriptions for the past thirty years. Delacour's multivolume monograph obviously commanded sufficient authority to render unnecessary detailed consideration of taxonomic questions. My own earlier books on waterfowl behavior (Handbook of Waterfowl Behavior) and waterfowl biology (Waterfowl: Their Biology and Natural History) made superfluous additional descriptions of sexual behavior patterns or general comparative reviews of ecology and breeding biology. What remained to be done, I finally decided, was to provide an up-to-date series of accounts dealing with the ecology and reproductive biology of every waterfowl species presently known to breed on the North American continent. In this way, the recent field studies of three separate groups, the wildlife biologists, ecologists, and ethologists, might be integrated. I hoped to make the book understandable to nonprofessionals, but still retain sufficient specific information as to make it a useful reference for students and professional waterfowl biologists. Secondly, information on both field and in-hand identification of all waterfowl species likely to be encountered in North America seemed to me to be equally important, especially in view of the increasing requirements for hunters to recognize quite precisely what they shoot or attempt to shoot. Also, practical means of accurate identification of waterfowl, and the further determination of waterfowl as to age and sex, are of foremost importance to XI

16 biologists concerned with waterfowl management. These two goals thus became the nucleus for the development of the book. Illustrative materials in the form of distribution maps and photographs of live birds were added to supplement written descriptions of ranges, plumages, and identification criteria. Except where otherwise indicated all photographs and drawings are mine. The text of the book was subsequently prepared in two sections. First, the preliminary materials were developed for each species, including ranges, subspecies, weights, measurements, and identification aids. For this section it was usually expedient or necessary to rely on a variety of previous publications. Delacour's Waterfowl of the World was the primary basis for subspecies criteria and provided the major source of wing and culmen measurements. Likewise, the criteria for specific and generic limits used here are largely those of Delacour and of my own earlier publications. Where such usages differ significantly from those of the American Ornithologists' Union (1957 and supplement in Auk, 90: , 1973), these differences are noted. A further deviation from the general practice of the A.O.U. is the use of distinctive vernacular names for subspecies, but whenever possible these names have been devised by the addition of an appropriate adjective to the basic vernacular name of the species. The separate accounts of the distribution, ecology, and behavior of all the species known to breed in North America were written next. I tried to avoid as far as possible the earlier literature that has been repeatedly summarized by Bent, Kortright, and Delacour, and instead to enlphasize information having possible application in the conservation and management of each species. Space limitations forced the adoption of a uniform format and a rather terse writing style, with little or no consideration for each species' possible esthetic values or its relative sporting importance. Thus, when the species accounts had been completed the text still seemed vaguely unsatisfying and somehow unfinished. The three preliminary chapters were then envisioned as a means of providing a cohesive overview and introduction to the individual species accounts and as an expression of my personal evaluation of the significance of our waterfowl resource to twentieth-century America. It is impossible to acknowledge adequately all the sources of encouragement and assistance I have had during the course of gathering information and assembling materials for this book. The most significant of these is perhaps the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, whose fellowship supported me through the winter, spring, and summer of 1971, when a substantial part of the initial draft was formulated. The University of Nebraska Research Council provided me with a leave of absence during that year and also with a summer faculty fellowship during Travel expenses associated with fieldwork xii PREFACE

17 and manuscript preparation during the summer of 1972 were provided by a grant from the Penrose fund of the American Philosophical Society. The National Science Foundation had earlier ( ) provided me with a research grant that allowed several years of study and summer fieldwork that would have otherwise been impossible to accomplish. Two years of study at the Wildfowl Trust, in England, financed by fellowships from the National Science Foundation (1959) and the U.S. Public Health Service (1960), were an equally important background component. The pleasant associations I had there with the Wildfowl Trust's scientific staff greatly influenced me, and its unsurpassed collection of live waterfowl gave me a unique research opportunity at a critical stage in my professional development. I would be remiss not to mention a few people who have individually assisted me in various ways during the preparation of this book. In particular, Sir Peter Scott most kindly provided the marvelous Labrador duck painting, which fully captures the essence of that beautiful but extinct bird. It is especially appropriate that Scott, who has personally done so much to prevent the extinction of such species as the Hawaiian goose, has contributed this interpretation of a species that no one will ever again see in life. Although I have used my own photographs whenever possible, in a few instances I have resorted to those taken by others. For their use, I would like to thank Burr Betts, Dirk Hagemeyer, and George Moffett. I was also graciously allowed to photograph waterfowl in a number of private collections, including those of Betty Carnes, Winston Guest, Jack Kiracofe, William Lemburg, William Macy, Christopher Marler, "Mickey" Ollson, Charles Pilling, and George Searles, to all of whom I again express my appreciation. Unpublished information on certain species was provided by Robert Alison, Dale Crider, Dennis Crouch, Robert Elgas, Dirk Hagemeyer, John Lynch, Calvin Lensink, and George Schildman. lowe a special debt of thanks to the International Wild Waterfowl Association, for a substantial subsidy toward the printing costs associated with this book. No doubt the greatest help and the strongest guiding influence of all were provided by my parents, who from my childhood encouraged me to develop my interests in birds as well as in nature in general. Through the books they gave me I was introduced to the writings of H. A. Hochbaum, F. H. Kortright, and Aldo Leopold, all of whom thus transmitted to me their own love of wildlife and enabled me to determine the kind of life I wanted to shape for myself. In a real sense, this present book is the fulfillment of a long-standing self-promise that one day, with a contribution of my own, I would try to repay these persons and the countless others who have directed their lives toward the understanding and preservation of our North American waterfowl. PREFACE xiii

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