We studied the food habits of canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) at Catahoula Lake (inland) and the Mississippi River Delta (coastal), Louisiana, from November 1987 to February 1988. Plant foods comprised >97 aggregate percent dry mass of the canvasback diet. The proportion of plant material eaten did not vary with sex, age, or month, or differ between study sites or nocturnal and diurnal collections. Tubers of chufa flatsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and common arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) made up 94% of the canvasback diet at Catahoula Lake. Common and grassy arrowhead (Sagittaria graminea) tubers and American bulrush (Scirpus americanus) rhizomes and seeds formed 94% of the canvasback diet at the Mississippi River Delta. Consumption of specific food taxa did not vary with sex, age, or month at either study site. Canvasbacks at the Mississippi River Delta preferred seeds of American bulrush over all other foods, but American bulrush rhizomes were underrepresented in the diet. Densities of subterranean plant foods at Catahoula Lake and the Mississippi River Delta are apparently higher than at other major canvasback concentration areas and enable canvasbacks wintering in Louisiana to improve their physical condition before spring migration.
