Characteristics- Blue Winged TealThe Blue Winged Teal is a dabbling or puddle duck. Their main habbitat includes grassy wetlands or marshy areas.
The head of a Blue Winged Teal is rounded. Some colors on their wings include speckled brown on the beast, dark feathers around wings and powdered blue spectum when they fly. Blue Winged teal are known for their white strip between their bill and eye. Common habbits of the Blue Winged Teal include dabbling in small ponds or wetlands. They like to hide in the vegetation around the edges of the pond with other dabbling ducks. The prairie pot hole regions are the heart of the breeding area. Nests of the Blue Winged Teal are carefully planned and layed out. 6- 14 eggs can be layed in one nest. The eggs will be incubated for up to 40 days. |
Does Air Temperature play a role in the Blue- Winged Teal's Migration Pattern?
Question: Does air temperature play a role in the Blue- Winged Teal's Migration?
Hypothesis: I think air temperature does play a role because the Blue Winged Teal needs a food source and being a small bird needs to keep warm.
Graphs: The graphs below show how to duck's count changes as the temperature changes. As you can see below as the temperature drops colder, the duck count also drops lower as the ducks start their migration to their wintering place.
Conclusion: From the data and what I have learned, I can tell that as the temperature gets colder for the winter, the number of ducks in our area slowly fade to 0 because of the limted food source here during the winter.
Hypothesis: I think air temperature does play a role because the Blue Winged Teal needs a food source and being a small bird needs to keep warm.
Graphs: The graphs below show how to duck's count changes as the temperature changes. As you can see below as the temperature drops colder, the duck count also drops lower as the ducks start their migration to their wintering place.
Conclusion: From the data and what I have learned, I can tell that as the temperature gets colder for the winter, the number of ducks in our area slowly fade to 0 because of the limted food source here during the winter.
Flyways of North AmericaWhen waterfowl migrate south because of the low food sources in their current home because of winter, they use 4 major flyways. The Central, Mississippi, Atlantic and Pacific. Groups of birds use these because of the river and lakes that lay around these areas or flyways. This will make their long journey easier with better access to resting/ water and food sources.
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Life Cycle
Nesting: Where a duck makes a nest, the mother looks for a safe spot. This is a dangerous time. The hen is mostly likely to build a nest where she already hatched an successful one before.
Brood Rearing: A dangerous time for mother, when she teaches ducklings survival skills. This takes place in the first 2 weeks in the ducklings life.
Post Breeding: A time when ducks need food for energy to help them stay healthy during molting and brood rearing.
Molting: Loses old feathers that are replaced with new ones, great danger because of flightless wings.
Fall Migration: A time when birds fly south because of the low food sources during winter.
Wintering: Living somewhere warmer for a period of time with a better food source.
Spring Migration: Returning from wintering to make nests and breed.
Pre- Nesting: Where a hen finds a spot to make nest, where she will be sucessful in hatching a nest.
Brood Rearing: A dangerous time for mother, when she teaches ducklings survival skills. This takes place in the first 2 weeks in the ducklings life.
Post Breeding: A time when ducks need food for energy to help them stay healthy during molting and brood rearing.
Molting: Loses old feathers that are replaced with new ones, great danger because of flightless wings.
Fall Migration: A time when birds fly south because of the low food sources during winter.
Wintering: Living somewhere warmer for a period of time with a better food source.
Spring Migration: Returning from wintering to make nests and breed.
Pre- Nesting: Where a hen finds a spot to make nest, where she will be sucessful in hatching a nest.
Food and Dangers
Believe it or not, waterfowl and macroanimals affect eachother greatly. What connects them? A huge cycle called the food chain. As your about to learn, not all invisible critters help and keep our feathered friends healthy. Waterfowl face many struggles everyday with the food and dangers that come along with being a duck.
Macroanimals and waterfowl have two different spots on the food chain. Each part of the macroanimal can serve as food for the waterfowl get the calcuim they need for their egg shells and bones from the exoskeleton of the macroanimals. They can get protein from macroanimals and soy beans. Fat, is also a very important nutrient for waterfowl. Our feathered friends need fat to help them migrate. The waterfowl eat acorns which are 20% fat. These birds get most of their carbonydrates from grains like wheat and corn. As you can see waterfowl relie on macroanimals to keep them full and healthy.
In duck soup you will find water, soil, and many macroanimals that live there. But not all macroanimals can be helpful to waterfowl. Some of these macroanimals are hosts to brain jacking paracites. Paracites are little animals that get inside other animals to change their behavior. The Trematode is a paracite that gets inside snails. The Trematode "Brain Jacks" the snail and controls what it does. This deadly bug causes the snail to be by the surface water longer, which makes the snail more likely to be eaten by a duck. Then the paracite is passed form the snail to the duck and the process starts over again, so the duck gets eaten by a predator. A predator is another animal which eats another animal. A duck is a predator to a snail. Macroanimals can mean life or death to waterfowl.
Ducks depend on microanimals for many reasons, mainly food. Although they are helpful and a need for health, they also pose many threats and hazards. But lucky most macroanimals are healthy to help the ducks survial.
Macroanimals and waterfowl have two different spots on the food chain. Each part of the macroanimal can serve as food for the waterfowl get the calcuim they need for their egg shells and bones from the exoskeleton of the macroanimals. They can get protein from macroanimals and soy beans. Fat, is also a very important nutrient for waterfowl. Our feathered friends need fat to help them migrate. The waterfowl eat acorns which are 20% fat. These birds get most of their carbonydrates from grains like wheat and corn. As you can see waterfowl relie on macroanimals to keep them full and healthy.
In duck soup you will find water, soil, and many macroanimals that live there. But not all macroanimals can be helpful to waterfowl. Some of these macroanimals are hosts to brain jacking paracites. Paracites are little animals that get inside other animals to change their behavior. The Trematode is a paracite that gets inside snails. The Trematode "Brain Jacks" the snail and controls what it does. This deadly bug causes the snail to be by the surface water longer, which makes the snail more likely to be eaten by a duck. Then the paracite is passed form the snail to the duck and the process starts over again, so the duck gets eaten by a predator. A predator is another animal which eats another animal. A duck is a predator to a snail. Macroanimals can mean life or death to waterfowl.
Ducks depend on microanimals for many reasons, mainly food. Although they are helpful and a need for health, they also pose many threats and hazards. But lucky most macroanimals are healthy to help the ducks survial.
Flight Adaptations
Adaptation that birds have to help them fly.
Feathers- For flight, warmth, protection and are over laped to create a sleek outer shell.
Bones- hollow, for light weight for easier flight.
Muscles- help feathers to work together, flight
Bill- lightweight for easy flight and easy to mantain feathers care
4- Chambered Heart- to help cirrculate oxygen to muscles when flying.
Wing Shape- for air pressure and lift to make flight able
Legs- For easy walking, flying or and diving.
The wing of the duck is designed for easy flight. The feathers work together to proivde a smooth clean surface to cut through the air. The feathers are held together by barbules to create a sleek surface. Ducks have 2 types of feathers, down and flight. The down feathers are used for warmth and the flight feathers work together to give flight. All feathers are unique to a duck. Spectrum are colored patches of feathers on the wings that define the ducks species. Ducks "zip" their feathers with their beak from a gland with oil. This is called preening. This keeps the feathers strong and waterproof.
Feathers- For flight, warmth, protection and are over laped to create a sleek outer shell.
Bones- hollow, for light weight for easier flight.
Muscles- help feathers to work together, flight
Bill- lightweight for easy flight and easy to mantain feathers care
4- Chambered Heart- to help cirrculate oxygen to muscles when flying.
Wing Shape- for air pressure and lift to make flight able
Legs- For easy walking, flying or and diving.
The wing of the duck is designed for easy flight. The feathers work together to proivde a smooth clean surface to cut through the air. The feathers are held together by barbules to create a sleek surface. Ducks have 2 types of feathers, down and flight. The down feathers are used for warmth and the flight feathers work together to give flight. All feathers are unique to a duck. Spectrum are colored patches of feathers on the wings that define the ducks species. Ducks "zip" their feathers with their beak from a gland with oil. This is called preening. This keeps the feathers strong and waterproof.
Field Trips
On the field trips we went on I learned about ducks adaptations and migration. At Brice's Prairie we saw many examples of habitat like the glass in the floor to show underwater and riverbed habitat. We also got to use ducks on a stick to see the difference between diving and puddle ducks and why they are built that way, for their different needs. The different flyways and migration habbits were also a key thing we talked about. We learned about the major flyways and why ducks migrate.
At USGS we learned about mussels and studying. We took tours of how they study and experiment on fish. We learned about the different mussels, their habitat and the dangers they face. We did an activity about the life cycle of the mussels. It was really fun and helpful because we could uses this information on our projects about our mussel.
We also took a trip to see the ducks and how they migrate. We learned skills about how to count migrating ducks like the flight survey. It was really amazing to see all the different ducks. It showed us how it really works instead of just reading something about their migration. We also learned about duck calls and banding the ducks.
At USGS we learned about mussels and studying. We took tours of how they study and experiment on fish. We learned about the different mussels, their habitat and the dangers they face. We did an activity about the life cycle of the mussels. It was really fun and helpful because we could uses this information on our projects about our mussel.
We also took a trip to see the ducks and how they migrate. We learned skills about how to count migrating ducks like the flight survey. It was really amazing to see all the different ducks. It showed us how it really works instead of just reading something about their migration. We also learned about duck calls and banding the ducks.
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This video shows the sound of the Blue Winged and habits.
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Flight Survey
The flight survey is data colleted when ducks are migrating to show the population of ducks. This starts when official counters go up in planes and fly over certain areas called a transect, a line of latitiude and longitude that they follow. This happens in over 2,000 square miles in the USA and Canada. The pilots and counters go out each week and fly the same transect. They count the ducks by estimating and look for certain patterns. They look for body shapes and speculum patterns. This continues for several weeks and then the data is analayzed to look for patterns and other satics aout the migration of ducks and their health.
Resources
U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Notes.