Until a little over a decade ago reports of Plasrnodium in geese, ducks, and swans were the result of examination of single blood smears from wild birds. One would gather from the earlier studies that Anatidae are infrequently infected. During the past decade we have conducted studies on prevalence of Plasmodium by an isodiagnosis technique, inoculating blood from wild birds into captive young geese, ducks, and other species of birds and determining the status of infection in the donors by examination of repetitive blood smears from the recipients. Examination by this technique of a series of adult Canada geese from the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in northern Michigan uncovered a prevalence of 60% during five successive years. Domestic geese were the primary recipients but we found that several other species of geese, ducks, and gulls were also susceptible. Similar studies on Canada geese from other areas (Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and southern Michigan) uncovered infection rates from zero to 27%. Following isolation of Plasmodlum in a single canvasback duck (Aythya valisineria) in southern Michigan by inoculation into a domestic duck, a series of 88 canvasbacks from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland this winter uncovered an infection rate of 27%. The most common parasite observed in both the geese and was as P. circumflexum.
