Most records are of singles, pairs, or small 
flocks comprising less than 20 individuals. 
Highest l-day ground or boat counts include 
55 on the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge 
on March 25, 1950 (J. E. Johnson); 40 at 
Elliott Marsh, Dorchester County, on March 
21, 1956; 40+ in the District of Columbia on 
September 6, 1939 (W. H. Ball); and 40 in the 
Newport Bay Marsh, Worcester County on 
February 2], 1954. Highest aerial counts, by 
c. D. Evans and C, F. Kaczynski, include 1,050 
on southern Assateague Island during early 
December, 1958; 65 in the upper Choptank 
River marsh during early March 1959; and 61 
in the upper Blackwater marsh during early 
March 1959. 
Food Habits 
The gullet and gizzard food contents of 12 
Shovelers were examined (table 83), Both 
vegetable and animal foods apparently are of 
major importance. The principal vegetable 
foods include the seeds of Olney three-square, 
widgeongrass, and saltgrass, and the vege- 
tative parts of muskgrass, The moreimportant 
animal foods include small gastropod mollusks 
(Littoridinops sp.), minute crustaceans (Copepoda 
etc.) and fish, chiefly top minnows (Poecilidae). 
EUROPEAN WIDGEON 
Mareca penelope (Linnaeus) 
The European Widgeon is a rare and irreg- 
ular spring and fall transient and winter vis- 
itor throughout the tidewater areas of the 
Upper Chesapeake region (Stewart and Robbins, 
1958). Records are for single birds, or oc- 
casionally two birds, at any one location, The 
earliest arrival date in fall is October 16, 
and the latest departure date in spring is 
April 5. European Widgeons usually are found 
on open-water estuaries or marsh ponds where 
submerged plants are abundant, They ap- 
parently prefer fresh or brackish-water es- 
tuarine bays, and ponds in brackish estuarine 
bay marshes, where they usually are associated 
with the American Widgeon. 
The gullet and gizzard food contents of one 
bird collected in the Upper Potomac section 
on December 24,1927, contained finely ground 
fragments of pondweeds, probably sago pond- 
weed and naiad. 
AMERICAN WIDGEON 
Mareca americana (Gmelin) 
American Widgeons are among the more 
common and widespread waterfowl in the Upper 
Chesapeake region during the fall migration 
period. They are fairly common also in winter 
45 
and spring but are somewhat more local at 
these seasons. January inventories for the 
years 1953-58 show that the wintering popula- 
tion ranged from 11,500 in 1958 to 120,400 in 
1955, and averaged approximately 62,800. This 
average figure represents about 4% of the 
continental population and about 36% of the 
Atlantic population, The fall migration usually 
is during the period of September 5-15 to 
December 10-20, with the peak between October 
10 and December 10. The normal spring mi- 
gration extends from March 1-10 to May 10-20, 
with the peak between March 15 and April 15. 
Habitats 
Most American Widgeons are found onfresh 
or brackish estuarine bays where submerged 
plants are abundant. Wildcelery and southern 
naiad usually are the predominant plants in 
fresh-water bays occupied by the American 
Widgeons, whereas claspingleaf pondweed and 
widgeongrass are generally the most abundant 
species in the brackish-water types. Fairly 
large numbers of widgeon also are distributed 
over the salt-water estuarine bays, particularly 
in areas where eelgrass and widgeongrass are 
abundant. Local concentrations of birds occur 
in brackish and salt estuarine bay marshes 
and in the coastal embayed salt marshes, In 
these marsh habitats, American Widgeons 
generally are restricted to natural still-water 
ponds or artificial impoundments where sub- 
merged plants, usually widgeongrass or musk- 
grass, are abundant. January inventories of 
1955-58 showed the following ecological dis- 
tribution: brackish estuarine bays - 68%; 
fresh estuarine bays - 13%; combinations of 
salt estuarine bays and salt estuarine bay 
marshes - 8%; combination of freshandbrack- 
ish estuarine bay marshes - 6%; slightly 
brackish estuarine bays - 4%; other habitats - 
1%, 
Seasonal distribution during the 1958-59 
season is shown in table 84, The brackish 
estuarine bays contained from 41% to 85% of 
the population during the five surveys. Large 
numbers also were present in fresh estuarine 
bays in October but were much scarcer in 
later periods. Fairly large numbers were 
recorded in the slightly brackish estuarine 
bays, particularly during the December survey. 
Biogeographic Sections 
The average distribution of American Widg- 
eons during the January inventories of 1955-58 
is shown in table 85, The Chester River and 
Eastern Bay sections were the mostimportant 
wintering areas, the two together containing 
more than half of the total Upper Chesapeake 
population. Roughly five-sixths of the birds 
were in the various sections along the eastern 
shore of Chesapeake Bay. Most of the 
