Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
September 1970
Abstract
What I am going to say this afternoon is based entirely on field observations. As I said, this is a progress report. Maybe in another five or ten years I shall have enough data so that I can come back and show you something more detailed. The area with which we are dealing is the archipelago that runs across between Ottawa county, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada. I have not done any work on Point Pelee, but I have worked on Pelee Island, on all of the U.S. islands, and along the North shore around Sandusky bay. What I am considering this afternoon, however, is the area involving the Bass Islands; South, Middle, and North; and also Kelly's Island, Pelee Island, and some of the small islands in between. This whole area seems to be a unit. In some ways it is like a laboratory situa¬tion because the area is not completely isolated from the birds on the mainland either way, but there is a degree of isolation. We look at the birds on South Bass Island, and especially during the breeding season, we are dealing with an almost dis¬crete population, not completely so, as the birds do go back and forth to the other islands. But to a large extent, the ones on South Bass Island form a population that we can study and, hopefully, in the course of a few years, we can find out more de¬tail that will have wider application