Quality of Flooded Rice and Fallow Fields as Foraging Habitat for Little Blue Herons and Great Egrets in the Everglades Agricultural Area, USA

摘要: Abstract. Wading birds have been observed foraging in agricultural wetlands worldwide where natural become lost, degraded, or seasonally dry, yet the ability of wading to satisfy daily energy requirements has little studied. The meet for Little Blue Herons (Egretta caerulea) and Great Egrets (Ardea alba) flooded rice fallow fields Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) was evaluated during April-June 2008 2009. Focal samples were used measure capture rates (captures/min), identify prey estimate captured size, calculate budgets both species. Within density measured sites random locations compared. Habitat variables did not differ between locations. Vegetation cover abundance increased over time greater than fields. Small prey, dominated by fish, cap...