Comprehensive Cooling Water Study: Volume 8, Waterfowl, Savannah River Plant: Final report

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:7070892

Mackey, H E ^[1]

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1. ed.

Large numbers of waterfowl have been present on the Savannah River Plant (SRP) since public access to the site was terminated in the early 1950s. Thirty-one species of waterfowl have been documented as occurring on the SRP. The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) has been conducting waterfowl research and surveys on the site for the past 15 years. This research has included work on waterfowl use of the SRP, wood duck reproductive biology, and waterfowl wintering ecology. Waterfowl use of the site has been assessed through aerial surveys of the Par Pond system and the SRP Savannah River swamp and through roost counts in the Steel Creek drainage. Aerial surveys have proven to be the most successful method of estimating waterfowl numbers each winter. The most abundant waterfowl species in the Savannah River swamp were consistently mallards and wood ducks, as determined by numbers counted. Both of these species have increased on the SRP. Mid- winter mallard numbers in both the Atlantic Flyway and in South Carolina have decreased during the same time period. In the SRP Savannah River swamp, the Steel Creek Delta and the sloughs between the Four Mile Creek and Pen Branch deltas had more mallards than did the Beaver Dam Creek Delta or the Pen Branch Delta. No differences were found for wood duck counts between the Four Mile Creek Delta sloughs, the Steel Creek Delta, or the Beaver Dam Creek Delta. The Savannah River swamp was used extensively for foraging by both mallards and wood ducks. 58 refs., 52 figs., 19 tabs.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Lab., Aiken, SC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 7070892
• Report Number(s): DP-1739-8; ON: DE88010408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS
BIRDS
CONTAMINATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FOWL
HOT WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROGRESS REPORT
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SURFACE WATERS
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VARIATIONS
VERTEBRATES
WATER
WATER QUALITY
WETLANDS