Incidence of Artifact Ingestion in Mute Swans and Tundra Swans on the Lower Great Lakes, Canada

Abstract

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Artifact Ingestion in Sea Ducks Wintering at Northeastern Lake Ontario

“…Also, we found low incidences of lead shot ingestion (ranging from 0 to 5%) in our large sample of wintering sea ducks four years after the ban of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in Canada. Frequencies of lead shot ingestion in our and other studies in the LGL region (Demendi and Petrie 2006;Bowen and Petrie 2007) were lower than those recorded for Common Goldeneyes (7.8%), Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria; 8.9%), Lesser Scaup (7.6%) and Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris; 19.3%, Anderson et al 1987) prior to the ban of lead shot. Thus, post-ban results suggest LGL waterfowl have lower exposure to lead relative to waterfowl sampled prior to the bans of lead shot for waterfowl hunting.…”

“…Visual inspection and a magnet were used to separate lead from non-toxic shot. A scalpel was used to make an indentation to confirm lead shot (Daury et al 1994;Bowen and Petrie 2007).…”

“…However, lead shot and lead fishing weights still remain available and are ingested by diving ducks and swans at some locales (Moore et al 1998;Anderson et al 2000;Figuerola et al 2005;Demendi and Petrie 2006;Bowen and Petrie 2007). Although Buffleheads, Common Goldeneyes and Long-tailed Ducks are widespread and common at Lake Ontario during winter (Prince et al 1992), there are no published data on incidences of artifact ingestion for these three sea ducks at the LGL.…”

“…Waterfowl hunting and recreational fishing are common activities on the LGL (Environment Canada 2006) and lead may still be available to wildlife within wetland substrates at many locales, particularly at traditional hunting and fishing areas (Scheuhammer et al 1998;Stevenson et al 2005;Demendi and Petrie 2006;Bowen and Petrie 2007). In this study our objectives were to determine: 1) the proportions of Buffleheads, Common Goldeneyes and Long-tail Ducks that had ingested spent shot (lead and non-toxic) and fishing weights while over-wintering at northeastern Lake Ontario, 2) the raw number of artifacts ingested per individual of these ducks species, 3) interspecific and intraspecific (age and sex) plus annual differences in artifact ingestion, 4) differences in the incidence and types (lead shot, non-toxic shot, fishing weights) of artifact ingestion among ducks collected over silt, gravel and rock substrates (i.e.…”

Hepatic Concentrations of Inorganic Contaminants and Their Relationships with Nutrient Reserves in Autumn-Migrant Common Loons at Lake Erie

“…Despite that common loons are susceptible to Pb poisoning through ingestion of fishing tackle (Thomas and Guitart 2003), we did not detect Pb in livers of 32.1% of loons sampled, and hepatic concentrations for Pb were within the range commonly found in healthy birds [e.g., \7 lg g -1 dw (Pokras and Chafel 1992;Eisler 2000a)]. In addition, no Pb artifacts were found during inspections of gizzard contents [n = 232 (sensu Daury et al 1994;Bowen and Petrie 2007)] in the sample of loons from Lake Erie (Long Point Waterfowl, unpublished data, 2005). Because common loons in our sample were salvaged at Lake Erie during autumn migration, we cannot be certain where inorganic contaminants in livers were acquired.…”