Nest‐site selection by cinnamon teal and other ground‐nesting ducks in Great Salt Lake wetlands

Ground-nesting ducks can reduce nest depredation by selecting sites where local physical structures or vegetation provide olfactory visual concealment. We evaluated nest-site selection comparing duck nests to random during 2019 and 2020 in the impounded wetlands of Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah, USA. During wet springs, most are underwater, leaving only dams available as nesting substrate. located 399 cinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera), 137 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), 162 gadwalls (Mareca strepera) on dams. At sites, we measured overhead concealment, lateral average height patch, standard deviation tallest within 1 m nest, dam width, distance from road along center dam. found that did not select for any these characteristics. Cinnamon selected had more also mixed evidence were wider. All species favored heterogeneous patches over homogenous ones. Duck a clumped distribution contained colonies American avocets (Recurvirostra americana), black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus), common terns (Sterna hirundo), with inside colonies, but showed other wetlands. Prior 1980, approximately half world's population nested GSL wetlands, since time has declined greatly. Given this decline, management actions should be conducted will improve cover widen dikes species' habitat.