Ruddy Ducks in Louisiana, mostly on lakes associated with the Mississippi River, 

 Only 1,000 were reported on the January 1975 waterfowl survey, but the surveys 

 of both Louisiana and Mississippi were incomplete (Goldsberry et al. 1980). 

 Most Ruddy Ducks are found in Louisiana from November through mid-April, with 

 occasional birds remaining in summer. Nesting occurred near Holly Beach, Cam- 

 eron Parish, in 1969 and 1970 (Lowery 1974). 



Texas Approximately 6,000 Ruddy Ducks winter along the Gulf coast of 

 Texas, with a slightly smaller number in the northwestern part of the state 

 (Bellrose 1976). Goldsberry et al. (1980) reported 3,230 wintering in Texas 

 during the 1975 waterfowl survey. The species breeds along the coast and at 

 scattered inland localities in the central part of the state (Meitzen 1963, 

 Oberholser 1974). 



SYNOPSIS OF PRESENT DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE 



Breeding The Ruddy Duck nests in western Canada from north-central Brit- 

 ish Columbia, Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba south in the 

 western United States through most of Washington, Oregon, western Idaho, and 

 central California and in the Plains States through northern Montana, the Dak- 

 otas, western Minnesota and Iowa, Nebraska, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, 

 and central Texas, and into the mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and 

 Arizona. There are records of sporadic or occasional nesting from Maine to 

 Florida in the east, and from Alaska to Mexico in the west. Bellrose (1976) 

 estimated an average breeding population of 595,000 birds for North America 

 over the years 1955-73. Individual surveys of the North American breeding 

 grounds in 1976 (Larned et al. 1980) totalled about 277,000 birds; this figure 

 is probably low, since some parts of the breeding range were not surveyed. 



Palmer (1976b) pointed out that the Ruddy Duck was formerly much more num- 

 erous and that numbers declined greatly during the early part of the century as 

 a result of market shooting. He also remarked that the current and continuing 

 loss of breeding habitat would prevent this species from ever attaining its for- 

 mer abundance and suggested that the total continental population of Ruddy Ducks 

 was no more than a few hundred thousand birds at best. 



The size of populations breeding elsewhere are, in general, poorly known. 

 We have no adequate information on the size of South American and West Indian 

 populations; Hudson (1976) reported that the feral population in England con- 

 sisted of 40-45 pairs in 1974. 



Winter Calculations based on Bellrose 's (1976) data indicate a North Amer- 

 ican winter population of about 232,700 birds. About 55% of these winter in the 

 Pacific coastal states and western Mexico (ca. 136,650 birds), most of these in 

 California. Another 20% (ca. 36,000 birds) winter in the interior of the con- 

 tinent, and about 25% (60,000 birds) winter along the Atlantic coast. Most of 

 the latter population is concentrated in an area from Chesapeake Bay to Pamlico 

 Sound, frequenting brackish estuarine waters. Florida (11,000), Louisiana 

 (13,000), and coastal Texas (6,000) harbor large winter populations of Ruddy 

 Ducks (Bellrose 1976). 



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