Overwinter distribution of northern pintail populations in North America

Journal of Wildlife Management
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Abstract

Northern pintails (Anas acuta) exist as a single circumpolar breeding population but display weak fidelity to given breeding sites. If fidelity to wintering areas is strong, management on wintering grounds may allow local winter populations to increase. Thus, I delineated reference areas for wintering areas based on recovery data for pintails banded during the winter (Dec-Feb) in the United States. Fidelity to these reference areas varied with the strongest fidelity observed for pintails banded in areas along coastal areas or near large bodies of water such as western Washington-northwestern Oregon, central California, northwestern Utah, the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, and the Greater Chesapeake Bay Region. My analysis suggests that pintails occurred in distinct wintering populations and that wintering ground affiliations to certain areas appear to be more stable population units than breeding ground affiliations. Consequently, winter banding programs may be useful in monitoring survival of specific wintering populations of concern.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Overwinter distribution of northern pintail populations in North America
Series title Journal of Wildlife Management
Volume 57
Issue 3
Year Published 1993
Language English
Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Description 582-589
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Journal of Wildlife Management
First page 582
Last page 589
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