Summary of Waterfowl Brood Surveys in Northern Wisconsin, 1987-1991

摘要

Duck production in the forested landscape of northern Wisconsin has received relatively less attention than in other parts of the State. We provide a descriptive summary to document duck productivity in northern Wisconsin and note general habitat characteristics important to duck broods in the region. We conducted 1,554 mid-summer brood surveys at 1,276 individual water bodies in 18 northern Wisconsin countries between 1987 and 1991. A total of 4,608 duck broods of ten different species were observed during the study period. Mallard broods were detected more frequently than broods of any other species on all water body strata. Likewise, mallard brood densities were higher than any other species on 3 or 4 lake strata. The species with the next highest brood abundance was the wood duck. The wood duck had the highest average brood density on lakes 10-99.9 acres and on streams. Summary of the mid-summer brood surveys was consistent with the results of the spring pair survey.