Waterfowl of North America: Waterfowl Distributions and Migrations in North America

• Main Author: Johnsgard, Paul A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2010
• Subjects: Ornithology; Arctic; Brant; Canada; Greenland; Norway; Wrangel Island; brant goose; Canada Goose; Common Eider; greater scaup; Iceland; King Eider; Shoveler; Whooper Swan
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciwaterfowlna/5; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/biosciwaterfowlna/article/1004/viewcontent/Waterfowl_distributions.pdf

The species of waterfowl breeding in North America have distribution patterns that collectively reflect the past geologic and ecological histories of this continent. In general, our waterfowl species may be grouped into those that are limited (endemic) to North America, those that are shared between North and South America, and those that are shared with Europe and/or Asia. Of the forty-four species known to breed in continental North America, the resulting grouping of breeding distributions is as follows: Limited to North America: Snow goose (also on Greenland and Wrangel Island) , Ross goose, Canada goose (also on Greenland), wood duck, American wigeon, black duck, blue-winged teal, redhead, canvasback, ringnecked duck, lesser scaup, Labrador duck (extinct), surf scoter, bufflehead, hooded merganser. Shared with Eurasia: Trumpeter swan (whooper swan), whistling swan (Bewick swan), white-fronted goose, brant goose, gadwall, green-winged teal, mallard, pintail, shoveler, greater scaup, common eider, king eider, harlequin duck, oldsquaw, black scoter, white-winged scoter, common goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, common merganser. Shared with South America: Fulvous whistling duck, black-bellied whistling duck, muscovy duck, cinnamon teal, masked duck, ruddy duck. Shared with Asia only: Emperor goose, spectacled eider, Steller eider (rarely to Norway). Shared with Europe only: Barrow goldeneye (Iceland and Greenland). Native to Eurasia, introduced into North America: Mute swan. It is thus clear that the strongest zoogeographic affinities of our waterfowl are with Europe and Asia, since twenty-three out of the forty-four native North American species have .populations shared with one or both of these areas. Only six species are shared with South America, and, of these, the fulvous whistling duck has a more general tropical distribution that includes Africa and southern Asia. Consequently, it would appear that South America has played only a minor role in providing waterfowl stock for North America, and vice versa. ...