American black duck brood habitat use and duckling survival in North Carolina

Abstract Duckling survival is a major component of waterfowl productivity and is especially important in species like the American black duck ( Anas rubripes ), which has populations that are below the North American Waterfowl Management Plan goals. We captured and radio‐marked 13 female black ducks and 39 ducklings during the 2020 and 2021 breeding seasons to quantify fine‐scale breeding‐season movements, habitat use, and duckling survival in coastal North Carolina, USA. The mean initial movement distance of marked broods from the nest was 490.02 m (95% CI = 329.45–650.59). Broods tended to use islands instead of brackish marsh mainlands and avoided open water in both land cover types. On a microhabitat scale, broods used areas with more litter, bare ground, and less water than available areas. The estimated daily survival rate of ducklings was 0.914 (95% CI = 0.88–0.93) based on the null model. The most plausible explanatory model indicated that survival improved with increased use of pools and creeks within coastal salt marshes and that ducklings of younger females had greater survival. Duckling production in coastal North Carolina would benefit from promoting isolated islands.