The Kittatinny raptor corridor is an important migration route for many
species of birds in addition to birds of prey. Numerous waterfowl species, for
example, also migrate across or along the ridge and corridor, and use the
area's rivers, creeks, and other wetlands. This bulletin provides brief
information about some of the corridor's waterfowl sometimes seen by
ecotourists.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis )
Canada Geese are common, and sometimes abundant, spring and autumn migrants.
During October, for example, thousands of these birds sometimes pass across the
ridge and are seen from various hawk watching lookouts in a single day. In one
study conducted every autumn from 1962 through 1975 at Bake Oven Knob, Pa.,
records were kept of the number of flocks of geese, and number of individual
geese in each flock, that passed the Knob. There were 43,595 geese counted in
759 flocks, with an average of 57.4 birds per flock. The smallest number seen
was one or two birds. Occasionally a very large flock contained 500 geese.
Generally, high altitude Canada Geese migrants are birds moving southward
from far northern breeding grounds. When local Canada Geese are seen, they
usually pass overhead at much lower altitudes. During autumn, it is becoming
increasingly common on many farms along the Kittatinny raptor corridor to see
dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of these local geese feeding among corn stalk
stubble on waste corn after the corn crop has been harvested. In some
locations, hundreds of geese engage in daily migratory movements between
waterfowl ponds and lakes in urban areas and relatively nearby corn fields in
rural areas.
After overwintering at various suitable farm areas along the corridor, some
of these local Canada Geese also find suitable nesting sites and breed. The
nest, usually lined with grasses, reeds, sticks, and other available natural
items, generally is placed on the ground, or upon a low support structure such
as a stump or muskrat house, in close proximity to water. The creamy or dirty
white eggs, from 4 to 10 in number, are brooded by the female for 28 days. One
brood is raised per year. The result is the establishment of more or less
local, resident Canada Geese populations in various sections of the raptor
corridor.
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos )
Mallards are common resident wild ducks observed along the Kittatinny raptor
corridor, especially on farm and other small ponds and other wetlands, and
along many of the area's streams, creeks, and rivers. They hide their nest,
lined with down, in alfalfa fields, tall grasses, or reeds as well as in
locations in close proximity to human habitation. There are 8 to 12 light
greenish, grayish, or white eggs which hatch in about 26 days after being
incubated by the female. It is not uncommon for Mallards to cross-breed with
domestic ducks, which produces an almost endless assortment of color and
plumage variations. These ducks are among the most common waterfowl seen by
ecotourists in the Kittatinny raptor corridor.
Hooded Merganser (Mergus cucullatus )
Hooded Mergansers are the smallest of the mergansers found in North
America. The male is particularly strikingly, with a bold black
and white crested head, vivid yellow eye, and black, brown, and white body. The
female, like most female waterfowl, is drab brown.
These birds are diving waterfowl, which is how they secure their food which
is largely fish. They sometimes occur as solitary or a few individuals on
scattered farm ponds, lakes, and rivers -- often near or in wooded areas.
Ecotourists and nature photographers should make a special effort to check for
these wonderful birds on farm ponds, creeks, streams, and rivers in the raptor
corridor.
Whether or not Hooded Mergansers nest in appropriate wetlands habitat within
the Kittatinny raptor corridor is uncertain. However, it is possible a few
pairs do so. There are a few scattered records within the general area in the New
Jersey and New York
sections of the corridor. Nevertheless, these mergansers certainly are not
common as breeding raptor corridor birds.
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa )
Wood Ducks (males) are the most spectacularly colored of all North American
waterfowl, if not all waterfowl worldwide. Their plumage and bill is a
combination of vivid purples, reds, blues, browns, and white. The female is
largely brown, and much less colorful, but still a very strikingly plumaged
bird.
Wood Ducks are not especially common birds in the Kittatinny raptor
corridor's wetlands (marshes, swamps, forest edge, and ponds, lakes, and
streams). Those that occur are part of the Atlantic population. Interior and
Pacific Wood Duck populations also occur in North America.
The placement of special nesting boxes in suitable wetland habitat near
woodlands is one of the ways in which local Wood Duck populations can be
increased. In some sections of the raptor corridor, Wood Duck nest boxes are
being used successfully. Generally 7 to 15 (average 12) pale white or buffy
eggs are deposited, but when eggs are "dumped" by more than one
female into the same nest box as many as 40 eggs can be present. Incubation
continues for 28 to 31 days by the female. Occasionally two females use the
same nest box simultaneously, either taking turns or incubating simultaneously.
Fledging occurs at 56 to 70 days.
Whenever ecotourists are lucky enough to see or photograph a male Wood Duck
somewhere along the raptor corridor, they have experienced a red letter day.
Certainly one of the worthwhile roadside watching activities in which
ecotourists can engage is to carefully check the many farm ponds, creeks,
streams, and rivers in the corridor in the hope of seeing these very beautiful
birds as well as seeing or photographing other equally interesting waterfowl.
Suggested Reading
Bellrose, Frank C.
1980 Ducks, Geese & Swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg,
Pa.
Delacour, Jean
1954 The Waterfowl of the World. Vol. 1. Country Life, Ltd., London,
England.
1956 The Waterfowl of the World. Vol. 2. Country Life, Ltd., London,
England.
1959 The Waterfowl of the World. Vol. 3. Country Life, Ltd., London,
England.
1964 The Waterfowl of the World. Vol. 4. Country Life, Ltd., London,
England.
Drugger, Katie M. and Leigh H. Fredrickson
1992 Life History and Habitat Needs of the Wood Duck. Waterfowl Management
Handbook. Fish and Wildlife Leaflet 13.1.6 . U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Washington, D.C.
Gooders, John and Trevor Boyer
1986 Ducks of North America and the Northern Hemisphere. Facts On File,
Inc., New York, N. Y.
Harrison, Hal H.
1975 A Field Guide to the Birds' Nests/United States East of the Mississippi
River. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Ma.
Heintzelman, Donald S.
1978 North American Ducks, Geese, & Swans. Winchester Press, New York,
N.Y.
Heintzelman, Donald S. and Robert MacClay
1979 Flock Sizes of Migrating Canada Geese in Eastern Pennsylvania in
Autumn. Cassinia , 57: 25.
Johnsgard, Paul A.
1968 Waterfowl: Their Biology and Natural History. University of Nebraska
Press, Lincoln, Neb.
1975 Waterfowl of North America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind.
1978 Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World. University of Nebraska Press,
Lincoln, Neb.
Madge, Steve and Hilary Burn,
1988 Waterfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the
World. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Ma.
Peterson, Roger Tory
1980 A Field Guide to the Birds. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Ma.
Phillips, John C.
1986 A Natural History of the Ducks. 4 volumes (combined into 2). Dover
Publications, Inc., New York, N. Y.
Scott, Peter
1968 A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World. The Wildfowl Trust.
Slimbridge, England.
Issued: January 1993. The Kittatinny Raptor Corridor Educational Handbook .
Copyright © 1993 by Wildlife Information Center, Inc. All rights reserved.