My understanding is that the large flocks of Aythya ducks are related to the 
proliferation of exotic zebra mussels in the Finger Lakes- but I have to admit 
that I don't know the details or whether the different species feed on them to 
a different extent.

Ken

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 25, 2015, at 8:55 PM, "Brad Walker" 
<bm...@cornell.edu<mailto:bm...@cornell.edu>> wrote:

Hi all,

It's only one species, but last year I prepared round skin of a REDHEAD that 
had been found dead on Cayuga Lake, off of Hog Hole. It's stomach was filled 
with an assortment of small mussels.

I took a few photos of them if anyone is interested.

- Brad


Brad Walker
Media Specialist
Macaulay Library
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850

607-254-2168

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 8:47 PM, Benjamin Freeman 
<bg...@cornell.edu<mailto:bg...@cornell.edu>> wrote:
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<http://benjamingfreeman.com>

--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME>
Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES>
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm>
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html>
Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds>
BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html>
Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!
--

--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME>
Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES>
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm>
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html>
Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds>
BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html>
Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!
--

--

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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/

--

Reply via email to