Foods of Juvenile, Brood Hen, and Post-Breeding Pintails in North Dakota

The Pintail (Anas acuta) is a common to abundant nesting species in North Dakota, becoming more numerous during years of favorable water conditions and less so during drought. Stewart and Kantrud (1974) estimated breeding-populations of 304,000, 111,000 and 379,000 pairs in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota during 1967-69, respectively. We studied food habits of juvenile and adult Pintails during the brood-rearing and post-breeding periods in North Dakota to learn their food requirements during these phases of the life cycle. Food habits of flightless juveniles have been studied in Alberta (Sugden 1973) and limited information on downy Pintail ducklings has been reported from the Soviet Union ( Dement’ev and Gladkov 1967). Published information is lacking on food habits of fledged juveniles, brood hens, and post-breeding adults during the summer months on the breeding grounds. Food habits of breeding Pintails in North Dakota have been described by Krapu (1974a, 1974b)