1. EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
Waterfowl Diversity at Lake
Reba During Fall Migration
BIO 589
Ethan D. Henry
8/29/2013
Qualitative Sight Sampling of Waterfowl Using Lake Reba between Months (Oct. vs. Nov.) To
Determine Species Composition And Diversity Of WaterfowlCommunities.

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ABSTRACT Waterfowl migration is essential to their survival. Areas of migration in North
America are broken into migration routes known as Fly Ways. In this case the Mississippi Fly
Way will be emphasized. Waterfowl use migration routes to utilize food, habitat, and nesting
sites. Along these migration routes are what is known as “stop-over sites” which include all
water sources; lakes, rivers, wetlands, etc., where waterfowl stop to rest and feed during periods
of migration. Lake Reba in Madison Co., KY, was surveyed during fall migration over the
months October, November, and a small portion of December to determine what species were
using the lake between months during the fall. Diversity indexes were used to show diversity
between waterfowl species. I found that there were 4 dominating species that inhabit Lake Reba
during the fall months which are the American Coot, Mallard, Canadian Geese, and Pied-billed
Grebe. Diversity indexes showed that there was low diversity between waterfowl species
between the three months surveyed.
KEY WORDS disturbance, diversity, habitat, migration, Mississippi Fly Way, Prairie Pothole
Region, waterfowl
Introduction
There are many different fly ways
(migration routes) of waterfowl in the world;
the Mississippi Fly Way is used the most
heavily by waterfowl, especially in the
Mississippi Alluvial valley, which consists
of the lower Mississippi River. (Baldassarre
et al. 2006). The Mississippi is the largest
water way in North America and is
approximately 3701.5 km long. The fly way
is composed of several states which include
Alabama, Arkansas, and Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio,
Tennessee, Wisconsin, and parts of Canada.
Fly ways are essential to the survival of all
migratory waterfowl because it allows them
to utilize habitat for food and nesting sites.
Early in the year, many waterfowl species
will migrate to what is called “The Prairie
Pothole Region (PPR)” (Figure 1.) in the
northern parts of U.S. and Canada. It is the
most productive duck habitat in the world
(Sorenson, et al.1998). The PPR provides an
abundance of food for duck hatchlings,
perfect habitat for nesting sites, and
protection from predators. But, due to
climate change and other human causing
factors, there has been a loss of habitat in the
Prairie Pothole Region due to the
construction of agricultural land. (Naugle
2001)
Figure 1. Prairie Pothole Region of North
America
Humans play a huge role in the survival of
waterfowl. As the human population
increases so does the demand of food

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(farming) and building. Humans are the
number one cause of most extinctions and
endangerment of animals in the present age
due to habitat destruction/alteration (Pimm,
et al. 2000). To understand why and where
birds migrate to is essential in managing for
the wellbeing of waterfowl. In the recent
past biologists have seen a decrease in
certain populations of dabbler duck
populations such as the American Black
Duck (Nichols 1995). Contributions to this
issue have been determined by many things
such as, global warming, loss of habitat, loss
of edible biomass, loss of solid breeding
habitat, and other disturbances caused by
humans. After U.S Fish and Wildlife
biologists reviewed several thousands of
articles and books they have then grouped
disturbances into 4 categories listed in order
of decreasing disturbance (Korschgen et al.
1992). Which are, 1. Rapid overwater
movement and loud noise (boating, skiing,
aircraft), 2.Overwater movement with little
noise (sailing, wind suffering, rowing,
canoeing), 3. Little over water movement or
noise (wadding, swimming), 4. Activities
along shorelines (fishing, bird-watching,
hiking, traffic). Understanding dynamics of
waterfowl populations can help us determine
what we as biologist need to do in managing
for waterfowl.
Study Area
The study area, Lake Reba, a 76 acre
reservoir built in the 1890’s by impounding
Otter Creek in the Kentucky River drainage
(City of Richmond KY 2013). The lake sits
on a 600 acre recreational area that is subject
to high anthropogenic disturbances such as;
playgrounds, shelters, picnic areas, a little
league baseball complex, a men’s softball
complex, batting cages, a soccer complex,
walking/jogging trails, recreational fishing, a
boat ramp, fish cleaning stations etc. It is
also home to many different waterfowl
species that use this lake and are subject to
most of these disturbances listed above
(Disturbances 2, 3, 4). The objective of the
study is to determine what waterfowl are
using this area during fall migration
Methods
During each survey, the numbers of species
of waterfowl present were determined based
on observations taken at three locations
(Figure 2.) During each survey, the number
and species of waterfowl seen directly on
the lake, on an island of the lake, or within
approximately 5 meters of the lake shoreline
were recorded. Only one survey of each
section of the lake was taken per sample day
to prevent double counting (Figure 3.). The
lake was sight sampled multiple times
throughout each week of October,
November, and a small portion of
December.

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Figure 2. Waterfowl Survey Locations
(observation points) on Lake Reba, Madison
Co., KY, Oct.-Dec., 2013
Figure 3. Sections of Lake Reba, Madison
co., KY, surveyed (scanned) for waterfowl,
Oct.-Dec., 2013
To determine how similar species
composition of waterfowl using Lake Reba
between months October, November, and
part of December, Simpson’s Index (Ss) of
Similarity was used to determine similarity
between waterfowl communities for each
month surveyed, and Shannon Weiner
diversity indexes were used to determine
diversity between waterfowl communities
between months surveyed.
Results
I found for the three months sampled, that
there was a total of 11 species of waterfowl
using the Lake Reba during fall the months
(Table 1.). I observed that there were four
dominating species that were using Lake
Reba which were Mallards, Pied-billed
Grebes, Geese, and American Coots.
Simpson’s index showed a value of 0.55 for
waterfowl surveyed October, 0.61 for
November, and 0.6 for December. The
Shannon Weiner values for the three months
were 0.96 for October, 1.11 for November,
and 0.98 for December. In this case Shannon
Weiner having statistical value between 0-5,
5 being high diversity and 0 being low in
diversity, I found that populations at Lake
Reba during the fall months are extremely
low in diversity. I also found while
conducting the surveys that many residents
visiting the lake were feeding waterfowl on
a regular basis.
Discussion
We see from the results that throughout all
months sampled, both Shannon Weiner’s
Diversity Index and Simpsons Index of
Similarity show that there is low diversity of
waterfowl species using Lake Reba during
months October, November and December.
According to the Sibley Field Guide all the
dominating species recorded in the study
except for the American Coot use this part
(Madison Co.) of the Mississippi Fly Way
year round for habitat. These species include
the Canadian Geese, Mallard, and Pied-
billed Grebe. When compared to a similar
study done in 1984 by Brad Andres in
Lexington, KY, (approximately 45km north
of Madison Co.) at a local city reservoir, he
found that during the early months of fall
that mallards and coots were the dominating
species in his study. Upon comparison
between these two studies a trend arises in
that, Mallards and American Coots are
found to be the dominating species of both
studies in early fall. Andres also noted that
the greatest diversity waterfowl in the
Lexington reservoir took place in December

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which could resemble the peak of waterfowl
species migrating through this area and shed
light on why Lake Reba showed low
diversity since only a portion of December
(3 days) was surveyed for waterfowl.
Therefore, further surveying would be
needed to conclude if Lake Reba would
become more diverse in waterfowl during
fall/winter migration.
Table 1. Number of waterfowl surveyed during months of October, November, and December at
Lake Reba, Madison Co., KY, 2013
Waterfowl Species October November Dec (1st – 4th) Total
Geese 116 236 71 423
Pied-billed Grebe 86 127 28 241
Mallard 348 405 0 753
American Coot 336 741 87 1164
Great Blue Heron 13 16 0 29
Hooded Merganser 0 2 0 2
Ring-necked Duck 0 6 0 6
Double-crested Cormorant 0 1 0 1
Bufflehead 0 21 0 21
Northern Shoveler 0 6 0 6
Lesser Scaup 0 3 0 3

6. LITERATURE CITED
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2006. Waterfowl migration fly ways. Pages
252-270 in Water Ecology and Management
2nd Edition Mississippi Alluvial Valley.
Sorenson, L. G., Goldberg, R., Root, T. L.,
Anderson, Michael G., 1998. Potential
effects of global warming on waterfowl
populations breeding in the Great Plains.
Volume 40, Issue 2
Sibley, D. A., 2003. Bird distribution in
North American. Pages 1-10
Dahlgren, Robert B., and Carl E.
Korschgen. 1992. Human disturbances and
their impacts on waterfowl: an annotated
bibliography. Us Fish and Wildlife Service
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Online<http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resourc
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Naugle, David E., et al. 2001 A landscape
approach to conserving wetland bird habitat
in the prairie pothole region of eastern South
Dakota Wetlands. 21.1:1-17.
Andres, Brad. 1989. Fall and winter use of
the Lexington Reservoirs by waterbirds. The
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Ducks Unlimited: Mississippi Flyway
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Pimm, S. L. 2000. Impacts of humans on
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Accessed 10 Oct. 2013. <
City of Richmond, Lake Reba. Web. 25
Sept.
2013.<http://richmond.ky.us/index.php/2012
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Nichols, James D., Fred A. Johnson, and
Byron K. Williams, 1995. Managing
waterfowl of North America JSTOR.
Accessed 06 Dec. 2013.
Kulm Wetland Management District.
Productivity of the Prairie Pothole Region.
U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Accessed. 20
Dec.2013<http://www.fws.gov/kulmwetland
s/pothole.html>.