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marshes west of Live Oak. Smaller flecks were found elsewhere. The majority of them were Pintails. These birds shifted about to some extent with the changing season but as part moved on others came in from elsewhere to take their places. After the middle of September there was marked migration evident and from then until the middle of October large numbers of additional birds came in.
After September 1, the birds rested on these bodies of open water during the day. When the nights were dark they flew out to feed at daybreak and at dusk returning to the water for the night. On moonlit nights they fed at night coming out about an hour after the moon rose.
Many areas that are now in rice were formerly sloughs or swampy places of waste land where wild ducks were accustomed to feed and rest during the late summer and fall. Utilization of these has resulted in a certain crowding of the duck population on remaining areas. The grasses that grow in the rice produce abundant seeds that attract the ducks and they often feed in the rice fields in open places long before the rice is mature.
Damage to the rice itself from the attacks of ducks began about September 1 or as soon as the heads of the early varieties began to fill. Ducks fed first about the open ponds in the rice fields or in areas where the grain had failed to stool properly making a thin open stand. Pintails were the only abundant species though Mallards came in fair numbers. A few green-winged Teal and Ciannamon Teal were seen but they were not common. In thin stands the ducks stripped the hands of the rice from the water below. From these thin areas they continued