Publications

Stomach contents of 70 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) shot in east-central North Dakota during January 1982 and January 1983 were examined. Commercial sunflower seeds were the most frequently found food item, occurring each year in three-fourths of the stomachs and composing about half of the contents. The remainder of the diet was primarily mammals, but included birds, insects, amphibians...

We studied the food habits of midcontinent sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) during spring 1978 and 1979 at their primary staging area along the Platte River and compared population food and foraging habitat requirements with availability. Crane diets varied among the 3 principal foraging habitats, but not between sexes, ages, or years. Cranes feeding in cornfields ate >99% corn (total...

No abstract available.

Approximately 200 bald eagles wintered along a 370-km section of the Platte and North Platte rivers in Nebraska during the winters of 1978-79 and 1979-80. A preponderance of the wintering eagles were adults, with the adult:subadult ratio highest during the harsh winter of 1978-79. Nocturnal roosts were located primarily in tree plantings near the river, with mean tree age at the roosts...

Research on the hydrology of the Cottonwood Lake area, Stutsman County, North Dakota, includes study of evaporation. Presented here are those climatic data needed for energy-budget and mass-transfer evaporation studies, including: water-surface temperature, sediment temperature dry-bulb and wet-bulb air temperatures, vapor pressure at and above the water surface, wind speed, and short-...

The number of cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) nests at a farmstead in southeastern North Dakota increased at an average annual rate of 87% with house sparrow (Passer domesticus) removal during 1957-60 and 1970-72. Harassment of nesting cliff swallows by house sparrows, adult swallow mortality from cold weather in late May, and collapse of nests were the principal observed...

This interpretation and compendium of historical fire accounts in the northern Great Plains provides resource managers with background information to justify the study or use of fire in management and provides a reference of historic fire accounts for those without ready access to major library collections. Historical accounts of fire are critiqued to aid interpreting the compendium...

Selected procedures are described for conducting nesting studies of upland nesting ducks in the prairie pothole region. Emphasis is on the use of standard procedures so that comparable results can be obtained. Major topics addressed are finding nests by flushing hens with drags pulled by vehicles, recording of appropriate data, and calculating nest success rates. Techniques are described...

We studied the distribution and density of passerine birds in relation to Wolfberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) and Silverberry (Elaeagnus commutata) shrub coverages on mixed-grass prairies of central North Dakota. Birds were counted along shrubby and shrubless transects during the 1982 breeding season. Species richness and total density of birds were greater on shrubby transects. Five...

Large numbers of waterfowl, especially canvasback (Aythya valisineria), used Western Stump Lake as a staging area during most of October 1985. Selection of the lake as a conditioning site by this species likely is caused by extensive, shallow-water beds of sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus) and lack of human disturbance. A brief limnological and historical account of the lake is...

Intensity and chronology of molt in 10 feather groups (head, neck, breast, belly, back, rump, side, scapular, tertial, and tail) were measured using percentages of developing feathers (pinfeathers) converted to molt scores (0-100) in samples plucked monthly from northern pintails (Anas acuta) collected by shooting from August through March 1980-82 in the Sacramento Valley, California...

Habitat use and nesting success of seven species of dabbling ducks were evaluated in five vegetative associations within grazed mixed-grass prairie in central North Dakota. During 1976-80, 548 nests were found on 412 ha of grazed prairie for an annual average density of 27 nests/100 ha. Numbers of nests found ranged from 1/100 ha in 1977 (a drought year) to 58/100 ha in 1979 (a very wet...