Humboldt Bay Ducks

group of ducks in the water A group of ducks flying over the water close up of a black and white duck in water

There is a wealth of wintering and staging waterfowl just 10 minutes from the Humboldt campus. It is an ideal outdoor classroom for students pursuing field projects for classes, senior projects and MS studies.

Current interests include projects on Humboldt Bay ducks: 

  • dominance and dispersal of sexes among species
  • pairing chronology among species
  • wigeon feeding and site tenacity
  • bufflehead feeding and risk of predation
  • green-winged teal flocking and risk of predation
  • northern shoveler social group foraging tactic
  • ducks' and coots' risk of predation from river otters

Highlights

Berl JL & Black JM 2011. Vigilance behaviour of American wigeon Anas americana foraging in pastures. Wildfowl 61, 140-149.

Previous duck projects

Black JM 2005. The ecology of social behaviour. In: Ducks, geese and swans of the world, Ed. J. Kear. Oxford University Press; 57-67.

Black JM 1998. Threatened waterfowl: recovery priorities and reintroduction potential with special reference to the Hawaiian goose. In: Avian Conservation: research and management (JM Marzluff & R Shallabanks), Pg. 125-140. Acedemic Press, New York and London.

Green A, Black JM & Ellis-Joseph S 1993. Conservation planning for globally threatened Anseriforms. In: Waterfowl and wetland conservation in the 1990s - a global perspective (eds. M Moser, RC Prentice and J van Vessem), IWRB Special Publication 26, 128-133.

Choudhury S & Black JM 1991. Testing the dominance and dispersal hypothesis in pochard. Ornis Scandinavica 22, 155-159.

Tomlenson, C., Mace G, Black JM & Hewston N. 1991. Management of an inbred species: the white‑winged wood duck. Wildfowl 42, 123-133.

Owen M & Black JM 1990. Waterfowl Ecology. Glasgow, Blackie Publ., pp. 194.

Ducks you may see around Humboldt Bay include:

Wood Duck- Aix sponsa
Gadwall - Mareca (Anas) strepera
American Wigeon - Mareca (Anas) americana
Eurasian Wigeon - Mareca (Anas) penelope
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
Blue-winged Teal - Spatula discors
Cinnamon Teal - Spatula cyanoptera
Northren Shoveler - Spatula clypeata
Northern Pintail - Anas acuta
American Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca (carolinensis)
Eurasian Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca 
Canvasback  - Aythya valisineria
Redhead - Aythya americana
Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris
Greater Scaup - Aythya marila
Lesser Scaup - Aythya affinis
Black Scoter - Melanitta americana 
White-winged Scoter - Melanitta deglandi
Surf Scoter - Melanitta perspicillata
Harlequin Duck - Histrionicus histrionicus
Oldsquaw - Clangula hyemalis
Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula
Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola
Common Merganser - Mergus merganser
Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator
Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus
Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis