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Résumé :
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In preparation for a study on the migration behaviors and breeding success of Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), we evaluated the effects of surgically implanted intra-abdominal transmitters with external antennae on the reproductive capabilities and behaviors of captive-reared female Lesser Scaup in a captive setting. We surgically implanted transmitters in 10 of 17 female Lesser Scaup available at Pinola Aviary, Louisiana, USA. We randomly selected adult female individuals from two age categories to receive transmitters, and the remainder were assigned to the control group. After surgeries and recovery, we monitored breeding and nesting daily for 101 days, and we conducted daily, 10 min focal observations to compare preening, diving, resting, and feeding behaviors between birds with transmitters and control birds. Five of ten (50%) birds with transmitters and three of seven (43%) birds in the control group laid eggs. Several eggs from both groups were incubated by the aviary and successfully hatched. We found that control birds and birds with transmitters preened a similar amount during the pre-nesting period, but control birds reduced preening during the nesting period whereas those with transmitters did not. We did not find transmitter related effects on diving, resting, or feeding behaviors. Overall, we found that captive-reared female Lesser Scaup with intra-abdominal transmitters with external antennae can lay viable eggs and experience minimal alteration to their behavior, though more work is needed to evaluate whether differences in preening behaviors observed in captivity lead to meaningful impacts on body condition or reproduction in the wild.
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