In 1977 and 1978 a study was conducted to document the use by waterfowl of the north shore of Lake Erie, Ontario, near the Nanticoke Industrial Development. The data were collected to provide baseline information from which to measure changes in the use by waterfowl of a recently industrialized shoreline. Aerial and ground surveys were conducted along the Nanticoke shoreline during the autumn of 1977 and spring and autumn of 1978. The Nanticoke shoreline is a major fall staging area for Greater Scaup (Aythya marilajam) Lesser Scaup (A. affinis), with apeak of almost 39,000 scaup and nearly 1,100,000 scaup-days observed during the fall of 1978. Major scaup concentration areas near the Nanticoke Industrial Development were mapped during the autumns of 1977 and 1978. Gizzards and esophagi taken from 18 scaup collected during the fall of 1978 indicated that gastropods were an important food source (100% occurrence), with Goniobasis sp. the most common organism. Continued use of the Nanticoke shoreline as a migration staging area may depend on maintaining an environment that will support large populations of the birds’ major food items. © 1981, International Association for Great Lakes Research. All rights reserved.

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