Food habits of prairie mink during the waterfowl breeding season
- 1 September 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Zoology
- Vol. 65 (9), 2322-2324
- https://doi.org/10.1139/z87-349
Abstract
We studied the food habits of radio-marked male mink (Mustela vison) in southwestern Manitoba from April through July of 1984 and 1985. Mammals were the major prey during April (99% of diet) and, to a lesser extent, May through July (44–21%). Muskrats, ground squirrels, and voles were the most important mammalian prey. Avian prey comprised from 55 to 75% of the diet during May, June, and July. Waterfowl (adults, ducklings, and eggs) accounted for 23% of the total diet. Other important avian prey included coots, grebes, and marsh-nesting blackbirds. We estimated total prey requirements for our radio-marked male mink and concluded that their predation had little impact on populations of prairie waterfowl during this study.Keywords
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