Abstract
Factors affecting habitat selection and survival of individual Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) broods were studied. Females were marked with radio transmitters and coloured wing tags, and their movements and that of their broods were followed to investigate the pattern of lake use.
Broods frequently left hatching lakes and moved varying distances and made overland travels to reach actual brood rearing lakes. Food was more abundant and pH lower in rearing lakes compared with hatching lakes. Rearing lakes also were smaller and more isolated than hatching lakes but did not differ with respect to the structure of shore vegetation.
Mortality rate varied considerably between broods. However, total distance moved and the length of overland travel was not associated with increased duckling mortality. Neither was mortality associated with the size, isolation or vegetation structure of the rearing lakes.
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Pöysä, H., Virtanen, J. Habitat selection and survival of Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) broods — preliminary results. Hydrobiologia 279, 289–296 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027862
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027862