Nest Predators of Ducks in the Boreal Forest

Nest predation is often the primary cause of nest failure for ducks throughout North America. Tremendous efforts have been made to identify predators responsible for nest predation to benefit the conservation and management of ducks. However, we are unaware of empirical evidence that identifies predators of duck nests in the boreal forest, which is an important breeding area. We used camera traps on real (n = 53) and artificial nests (n = 164) from 2016 to 2018 to identify predators of boreal duck nests near Utikuma Lake, Alberta, Canada. We identified 8 species of duck nest predators that ate or removed eggs from nests: American black bear (Ursus americanus), short-tailed or least weasel (Mustelaspp.), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), coyote (Canis latrans), American marten (Martes americana), red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), common raven (Corvus corax), and red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Despite a long history of duck-nest predator research, our study confirmed previously undocumented nest predators of ducks from the boreal forest. The suite of nest predators was different from common prairie nest predators and we did not observe common prairie nest predators at our study area. Climate change and industrial development are altering predator-prey interactions, causing changes to wildlife communities in this region and our data provide an initial step in improving our understanding of boreal ducks. (c) 2020 The Wildlife Society.