Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Prevett, J. Paul
• Marshall, Ian F.
• Thomas, Vernon G.

Titel

Fall Foods of Lesser Snow Geese in the James Bay Region

Ist Teil von

• The Journal of wildlife management, 1979-07, Vol.43 (3), p.736-742

Ort / Verlag

The Wildlife Society

Erscheinungsjahr

1979

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Food habits of lesser snow geese (Anser c. caerulescens) were studied along the James and Hudson Bay coasts of Ontario where a large proportion of the Hudson Bay population stages during fall migration. Forty plant species representing 15 families were eaten, but 9 species (Equisetaceae, Juncaginaceae, Gramineae, and Cyperaceae families) made up 90% of the food items identified. All parts of most plants were consumed, and the proportion consisting of roots increased as autumn progressed. At 3 locations in southwestern James Bay, estimates of food selectivity by geese were made by comparing indices of ingestion and abundance of plants in the coastal marshes. Bulbs of an arrow grass (Triglochin palustris) were the most preferred and consistently selected food. The feeding pattern affirms the importance to geese of the coastal strip, 1-10 km wide, along James Bay. There, before commencing the major phase of the fall migration, geese regain physical condition that was depleted during the nesting season.