Diving Ducks Surveyed

From May, 1995 (Update #24)

HORICON, Wis. - Unusually large flocks of diving ducks were observed along the Lake Michigan shoreline in an early January survey, according to Wisconsin DNR biologist Bill Wheeler. This is the first official report from Lake Michigan of a phenomenon observed frequently in Lake Erie - diving ducks changing their migration patterns to feed on zebra mussels. The WDNR has conducted an aerial January survey of ducks for the past 20 years, but this year's survey was noteworthy for unusually large concentrations of Common Goldeneye, a species of diving duck. Duck numbers this year were twice what they were last year (17,000 ducks this year versus 8,000 last year) - the largest numbers ever counted in the survey.

ID: 199505-5.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.