Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Habitat use

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Spring Migration Ecology Of The Mid-Continent Sandhill Crane Population With An Emphasis On Use Of The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt, Paul J. Kinzel, Aaron T. Pearse Jan 2014

Spring Migration Ecology Of The Mid-Continent Sandhill Crane Population With An Emphasis On Use Of The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt, Paul J. Kinzel, Aaron T. Pearse

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

We conducted a 10-year study (1998–2007) of the Mid-Continent Population (MCP) of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) to identify spring-migration corridors, locations of major stopovers, and migration chronology by crane breeding affiliation (western Alaska–Siberia [WA–S], northern Canada–Nunavut [NC–N], west-central Canada–Alaska [WC–A], and east-central Canada–Minnesota [EC–M]). In the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) of Nebraska, we evaluated factors influencing staging chronology, food habits, fat storage, and habitat use of sandhill cranes. We compared our findings to results from the Platte River Ecology Study conducted during 1978–1980. We determined spring migration corridors used by the breeding affiliations (designated subpopulations for management …


Spring-Migration Ecology Of Northern Pintails In South-Central Nebraska, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, Robert R. Cox Jr., Bruce E. Davis Jan 2011

Spring-Migration Ecology Of Northern Pintails In South-Central Nebraska, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, Robert R. Cox Jr., Bruce E. Davis

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Spring-migration ecology of staging Northern Pintails, Anas acuta, was investigated in south-central Nebraska, USA. Habitat associations, local movements, settling patterns, arrival dates, residency times and survival were estimated from 71 radiomarked pintails during spring 2001, 2003 and 2004, and diet determined from 130 females collected during spring 1998 and 1999. Seventy-two percent of pintail diurnal locations were in palustrine wetlands, 7% in riverine wetlands, 3% in lacustrine wetlands, 6% in municipal sewage lagoons and irrigation reuse pits and 10.5% in croplands. Emergent wetlands with hemi-marsh conditions were used diurnally more often than wetlands with either open or closed vegetation …