Hello all, Alexa and I had the good fortune to watch the Tufted Duck for an hour or so on Saturday morning. It was diving actively the entire time, which made it tough to find (and difficult to show to others in the scope). Which got me thinking: What are the various Aythya eating? The Tufted Duck was clearly associating with scaup on Saturday that were actively feeding. Also present were several big flocks of Redhead (all loafing around), and a decently big group of Canvasback (also loafing).
A quick search informs me that Aythya eat gastropods, mussels and aquatic vegetation among other things, and that the relative proportion of animal food in their diet varies seasonally. Does anyone know what they are eating in Cayuga in winter? Must be a fair bit of food to support so many birds for several months... Do different species of Aythya eat different things? Can you tell when Aythya are eating gastropods/molluscs/animal food vs plants based on their diving behavior? Looking forward to learning what these ducks are up to, Ben -- Benjamin Freeman Ph.D. candidate Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Cornell University Ithaca, NY, USA benjamingfreeman.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
