Waterfowl
Robert
A. Kennamer
Kennamer@srel.edu
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P O Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
Waterfowl are among the most economically important wildlife occurring
on the Savannah River Site (SRS). On an annual basis, three million people
in the United States spend $700 million on sport hunting of migratory
birds, with about one third of that activity directed toward duck and
goose hunting (U.S. Department of the Interior et al. 1993). During the
1960s, estimated numbers of 226,000 to 750,000 ducks passed through the
Savannah River drainage each winter (Bellrose 1980), making the area a
major route for migratory waterfowl within the Atlantic Flyway. More recently,
midwinter waterfowl surveys in South Carolina during the early 1990s have
shown reduced numbers of ducks within the state, ranging from 124,000
to almost 219,000 (Serie 1992, 1993). On the SRS, large numbers of waterfowl
have occurred since closure of the site to the public in the early 1950s
(Jenkins and Provost 1964; Mayer, Kennamer, and
Hoppe 1986). Twenty-eight species of North America’s native ducks,
geese, and swans, as well as several other aquatic bird species that are
often closely allied with waterfowl, have been identified on the SRS between
1952 and 1997 (Halverson et al. 1997; table 6.10). Wood ducks (see table
6.10 for scientific names) and hooded mergansers are the only waterfowl
known to breed on the SRS (Mayer, Kennamer, and Hoppe 1986), and both
species require cavities in which to nest. Waterfowl are present in most
suitable SRS aquatic habitats (table 6.10; Norris 1963; Mayer, Kennamer,
and Hoppe 1986; Halverson et al. 1997; Kennamer, unpublished data), including
those contaminated by nuclear materials production activities
(e.g., reactor cooling reservoirs and seepage and settling basins).
SREL Reprint #2921
Kennamer, R.A. 2005. Waterfowl. p. 347-359. In Harvestable Natural Resources. In Ecology and Management of a Forested Landscape: Fifty Years on the Savannah River Site, edited by J.C. Kilgo and J.I. Blake. Island Press.
