Blood Parasites of Some Maine Waterfowl

Abstract

An opportunity to examine wild waterfowl in Maine for blood parasites was presented during the summer of 1939 by the Maine Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Project. A major objective of the survey was to determine the prevalence of the blood protozoan Leucocytozoon. This parasite was shown by O'Roke2 (1934) to be responsible for heavy losses among wild ducks in Michigan. O'Roke found it occurring widely in ducks from other central, and also from western and southern, states. In addition, Herman (1938) reported Leucocytozoon in wild ducks on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Previous to the present survey we had some evidence that this parasite is present in the waterfowl of Maine. One outbreak occurred in 1935 in a flock of domestic ducks near the town of Orono. The ducks had been brought in from Massachusetts about a month earlier. The owner, not being familiar with the malady, brought specimens to Dr. J. F. Witter, Animal Pathologist at the University of Maine. It was not certain that the parasites had been acquired after their arrival in this state. In June 1938 blood smears obtained by the Wildlife Research Department of the University of Maine, from two wild black ducks near Orono, revealed Leucocytozoon. One of the birds, a duckling, was examined, banded, and released. It survived the infection and was caught late the following fall near Orono in a muskrat trap. Other ducks examined that summer, one golden-eye and two ring-neck ducks, were negative for blood parasites. In the summer of 1939 banding and other operations in connection with the project mentioned gave the desired opportunity for the collection of blood smears from waterfowl. Study of the smears has produced a number of new host records for species of parasites already described as well as for some possibly undescribed parasites. In addition, some information was obtained in the comparative prevalence of infections in adult and young birds and in different species of ducks. Since no previous survey of this type has been made in the region it seems desirable at this time to present the findings.