Diurnal activity budget and breeding ecology of the White-headed DuckOxyura leucocephalaat Lake Tonga (North-east Algeria)

Abstract

The White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala is one of the most threatened duck species in the world. In the last decade ecology, behaviour and breeding biology of this species attracted considerable scientific interest across its geographic range. In order to fill some gaps in the knowledge of North African populations, diurnal and seasonal activity budget and breeding ecology of the species were investigated at Lake Tonga (Ramsar site), El Kala, Algeria. The species is resident at this site and its numbers were the highest in January. Throughout the year, ducks spent the following proportion of time on these activities daily: 62.41% resting, 18.50% locomotion, 11.04% feeding, 5.56% preening, 0.53% flying, 0.13% agonistic behaviour and 1.83% courting. Substantial differences were noted in the activity budget between wintering and breeding seasons. Resting and locomotion constituted 89% of all the activities in the wintering season, while resting, locomotion and feeding were dominant activities in the breedi...