The diurnal activity budget of the pintail Anas acuta wintering in the Lac des Oiseaux (North-East Algeria)

Abstract

The wintering of the pintail duck Anas acuta at Lac des Oiseaux has been studied from September 2014 to March 2015. The size of the population was low and varied between months. They did not exceed 40 individuals counted during the month of December. The study of the rhythms of activities showed, that the dominant activity during the wintering was feeding with 59% of the time of activities, it was followed by rest and swimming with 16.66% and finally the preening with 4.83%. Thus, for the pintails the reserves necessary for migration and reproduction are probably gained at least on the wintering area.