Interpreting Evidence of Depredation of Duck Nests in the Prairie Pothole Region

Appendix B, Table 5

Table 5. Frequency of depredated duck nests by classes of percentage of nest material displacement for principal predators of duck nests in the Prairie Pothole Region, 1972-92.

			Frequency (%) of depredated nests by classes of percent of nest material displaced
Predator	Nest type^a	No. nests	0	1-10	11-30	31-50	51-70	71-90	91-100
Coyote	Artificial	59	8	12	12	2	3	14	49
Red fox	Artificial^b	14	50	7	14	21	0	7	0
Raccoon	Artificial	28	64	18	11	7	0	0	0
Striped skunk	Artificial	46	9	7	7	28	20	20	11
American badger	Natural	61	13	11	23	13	2	13	25
Mink	Natural	31	65	23	10	3	0	0	0
Weasels^c	Natural	38	100	0	0	0	0	0	0
Franklin's ground squirrel	Artificial	15	0	20	13	33	0	20	13
Black-billed magpie	Artificial	24	0	13	8	8	13	46	13
American crow	Artificial	51	10	14	14	12	6	27	18
Gulls^d	Artificial	14	71	21	7	0	0	0	0

^a	All nests were in uplands or dry wetlands and were known or thought to have ≥6 eggs when last visited by an investigator before nest was destroyed.
^b	Includes 1 natural nest with 5% of nest material deplaced.
^c	Ermine and long-tailed weasel; data from Fleskes (1988).
^d	Ring-billed gull and California gull.

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