La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Status and diurnal behaviour of the Shelduck Tadorna tadorna in the Hauts Plateaux, northeast Algeria
Auteurs :	Mouloud Boulkhssaim, Auteur ; Moussa Houhamdi, Auteur ; Boudjema Samraoui, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Wildfowl (56 2006)
Article en page(s) :	65-78
Langues:	Anglais
Mots-clés :	Algérie
Résumé :	Between December 2002 and July 2005, the wetland complex of Oum El Bouaghi, northeast Algeria, was surveyed for Shelduck Tadorna tadorna, and their diurnal behaviour was monitored. Numbers of Shelduck recorded were far higher than previously noted for the whole of Algeria, with up to 68,000 individuals counted in January 2005. Possible reasons for this unexpected result are discussed. The analysis of time budgets revealed that Shelduck behaved differently at two sites and during the course of the winter. They devoted over half their time during the day to feeding, whereas other activities (swimming, sleeping, preening and loafing) were less frequent (5-13%). Courtship and agonistic behaviour were mostly evident in spring, coinciding with the start of the breeding period. Short-term shifts in foraging methods (upending versus surface feeding) enabled the Shelduck to exploit a range of habitats and to adapt to seasonal changes within these habitats.

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