Seed and Waterbird Abundances in Ricelands in the Gulf Coast Prairies of Louisiana and Texas

Rice not collected by harvesters and natural seeds are important foods for waterfowl. Estimation of abundance of these seeds is necessary for calculating waterfowl habitat conservation needs in the Louisiana Chenier Plain (LCP) and Texas Mid-Coast (TMC). My objectives were to quantify dry mass of rice and other seeds from August-November 2010, and estimate waterbird abundances on farmed and idle ricelands in these regions from December 2010-March 2011. Rice abundance in farmed ricelands ranged from 159.7 kg/ha (CV = 66.6%) to 1,014.0 kg/ha (CV = 8.3%). Natural seed abundance in idle ricelands ranged from 99.7 kg/ha (CV = 32.9%) to 957.4 kg/ha (CV = 17.2%). Greatest waterbird densities occurred in shallowly flooded (i.e., ¡Ü30 cm) disked ricelands (mean = 7.35 waterbirds/ha, 90%; CI = 2.37-19.70). Ratoon, disked, and shallowly flooded ricelands are important habitat for non-breeding waterbirds but variable estimates of seed and waterbird abundances warrant continuation of this study