Wood Duck

The wood duck is a commonly encountered species that breeds along the Tittabawassee River and can often be seen foraging in the shallow waters along the riverbank or within the floodplain forests. Our research aims to determine the exposure of the wood duck population that resides within the Tittabawassee River floodplain to site-specific contaminants, specifically dioxins and furans.

Wood ducks were chosen as a representative species of both the aquatic and terrestrial food chains because they forage on both. Wood ducks are obligate cavity nesters (i.e., they don’t excavate their own cavities and are dependent on natural cavities or, more importantly, nest boxes) and have a restricted foraging range while nesting.

Contaminant concentrations in the tissues of wood ducks are analyzed to determine their exposure to site-specific compounds. Specifically for the wood duck, tissues collected include fresh and addled eggs.

Productivity data collected on wood duck populations are limited mostly to box occupancy and clutch size.

Wood duck data have been collected from reference areas in Sanford, Michigan, and the Pine and Chippewa rivers in and around the Chippewa Nature Center to downstream of Midland, Michigan, ranging to the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

Integrating the findings from these studies will provide us with the information necessary to estimate the exposure of wood ducks residing within the Tittabawassee River floodplain to site-specific contaminants.