Ducks Die Diving for Mussels

From February 19, 1992 (update #12)

BRIDGEMAN, Mich. - Nearly 400 diving ducks were killed in early December when they were sucked into the Lake Michigan water intake system of the Cook Nuclear Power Plant near here while attempting to dine on an adjoining colony of zebra mussels. The ducks - lesser scaup, more commonly known as "bluebills" - apparently drowned after being pinned against intake screens designed to prevent large debris from entering the plant's water system, according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist Tom Custer. Examination of the ducks showed that the entire esophagus and digestive tract of the dead birds were filled with zebra mussels, Custer said.

ID: 19920219-14.

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.