A 4-Year Study of Wood Ducks on a Pennsylvania Marsh

Abstract

The status of wood duck (Aix sponsa) populations has been the subject of investigations in several states during recent years. Major studies were conducted in Illinois (Bellrose, 1953), Massachusetts (McLaughlin and Grice, 1952), Vermont (Miller, 1952), and New Hampshire (Lee, 1953). In 1953 the Pennsylvania Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit initiated a wood duck study as part of a waterfowl-research program in northwestern Pennsylvania. The wood duck is one of the principal nesting species of waterfowl in Pennsylvania, and it also is of major importance to the sportsman there during the hunting seasons. This study has revealed a definite decrease in the nesting population, and a subsequent decline in the productivity of the wood duck from 1953 to 1956 on one of its major breeding areas in Pennsylvania. The future of this species as a gamebird in northwestern Pennsylvania may be decided by the adoption of proper management on these breeding areas. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possible relationships of the factors affecting the decline of this population.