A Report on Seasonal Food Habits and Life History Notes of the Florida Duck in the Vicinity of Lake Okeechobee, Glades County, Florida

Abstract

To sportsmen of southern Florida an important component of waterfowl hunters' bags is the bird known as the Florida duck (Anas f. fulvigula Ridgway). This nonmigratory species occurs, in peninsular Florida from the latitude of Gainesville (Alachua Co.) southward, reaching its greatest abundance in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee. Its value as a game bird is indicated by the fact that, in areas where it occurs, it comprises about 10 per cent of the total waterfowl kill (Chamberlain, 19,50). Such a kill has been variously estimated to comprise from 40 to 60 percent of its total pre-hunting season population (ChamrbeIlain, 1951a; Jennings, 1953), but in spite of such excessive hunting pressure Florida duck populations are remaining steady or even slightly increasing in numbers (Chamlerlain, 1951b; Jennings, 1952). The following study was initiated 'as part of Florida Federal Aid Project W-19-R in 1953 'by H. Jay Hosford, a graduate assistant at the School of Forestry, University of Florida, for his thesis subject. Its objectives were to study the food habits of the Florida duck as well as to gather information on nesting activities, brood survival, sequence of molts, and other pertinent facts relative to the life history of this game bird. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Hosford's death occurred before he could complete his work or summarize the results of his study. Since the senior author served as chairman of Mr. Hosfords graduate supervisory committee, he undertook to complete the analyses of the duck gizzards for the food habits phase of this investigation, and to summarize what had been learned during Hosford's study.