stream rocks, logs, islands, or stream-side gravel bars serve as 

 safe loafing sites are important habitat components. 



Most of the ducks arrive on their inland breeding areas in 

 mid-April to early-May; unmated males typically arrive before 

 pairs (Kuchel 1977) . The males return to the coast shortly after 

 the females begin incubation; most are gone by early July (Kuchel 

 1977) . The females and young remain on the streams until August 

 or early September. This chronology is influenced by elevation 

 and the timing of spring runoff and may vary up to several weeks 

 between years. 



The U.S. Forest Service, Region 1, lists the harleguin duck 

 as Sensitive (Reel at al. 1989) . The species is listed as a 

 Species of Special Concern by the Montana (Genter 1992) and Idaho 

 (Moseley and Groves 1990) Natural Heritage Programs. The eastern 

 North American population is listed as endangered in Canada 

 (Goudie 1993) ; the western population is listed under Category 2 

 as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act by 

 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S. Department of Interior 

 1991) . 



The Montana Natural Heritage Program began surveying 

 harleguin ducks in 1988. The survey data gave rise to questions 

 involving site fidelity, productivity and mortality. Individual 

 marking of birds began to a limited extent in 1991. Long term 

 goals are: 1) developing a baseline status report of current and 

 historic harlequin populations in Montana; 2) gather information 

 on site fidelity, reproduction and mortality to allow estimations 



