V-B-24 



Beter, R.A. 1956. A comparative winter food habit study of dabbling 

 ducks. M.S. Thesis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 74 pp. 



A winter food habit study of 103 dabbling ducks from the brackish 

 Lake Borgne marsh and the freshwater marsh of Pass a Loutre was made 

 in 1956. 



Analysis of gizzards from samples taken from Lake Borgne showed 

 that the four major foods, in the order of importance, were: Ruppia 

 maritima , Cladium jamaicense , Scirpus robustus , and Scirpus californicus . 



Analysis of 39 gizzards from Pass a Loutre showed that the four major 

 foods, in the order of importance, were: Potamogeton pu si 11 us , Najas 

 guadalupensis , Neretina reel ivata , and C_^ jamaicense . 



The five most important foods for dabbling ducks were found to be: 

 R. maritima , C. jamaicense , Scirpus spp. (predominantly S. californicus ), 

 P. pusillus , and N. guadalupensis . (A. A, and B.W.) 



Keywords: food habits, dabbling ducks, coastal marsh, Louisiana 



V-B-25 



Stieglitz, W.O. 1966. Utilization of available foods by diving ducks 

 on Apalachee Bay, Florida. Proceedings of the twentieth annual 

 conference. Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners, 

 pp. 42-50. 



A study designed to determine the vegetative composition and 

 production of that portion of Apalachee Bay, Florida, included 

 within the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge was carried out in 1964. 

 Gizzards and gullets of fourteen diving ducks were subsequently 

 collected in order to correlate feeding activities with available 

 foods. Greater scaup consumed large quantities of animal foods. 

 Redheads consumed considerably more vegetative material than animal , 

 and showed a predilection for shoalgrass. Shoalgrass constituted 

 67.9 percent of the total volume of all foods consumed by diving ducks. 

 Turtlegrass and manateegrass, two other species that occur commonly 

 in the bay, apparently are of little value as waterfowl foods in this 

 area. Vegetative production data were correlated with food habits to 

 determine the approximate carrying capacity of the study area in water- 

 fowl use days, and to ascertain the percentage utilization of the 

 standing crop of vegetation by waterfowl during the 1964-65 

 wintering period. (A. A.) 



Keywords: ducks, food habits, coastal marshes, shoalgrass, Florida 



225 



