Diurnal time budget of wintering Teal Anas crecca crecca (Anatidae) at Garaet Hadj-Tahar (Skikda, Northeast Algeria
Nabil Charchar, Laid Bouchaâla, Mohamed Belhamra and Moussa Houhamdi
During three seasons of study of wintering Teal Anas crecca crecca at Garaet Hadj Tahar (wetlands Complex of Guerbes-Sanhadja, Algeria), it was found that Teal began to colonize the lake at the end of August to remain there until mid-March each year. The maximum number is usually registered during the mid-winter season, between the months of December and January, where we record 506 individuals.
Monitoring of Teal diurnal behaviors during this study (294 hours of observation), highlights the role of daytime delivery of this lake that the total balance sheet is dominated by the sleeping activity with 40%. Swimming activity come second with 28.8% of daytime delivery, followed by feeding activity which holds 13.8%, and by preening (plumage cleaning), with 12.7% and finally the flight with 4.7%. Multivariate treatment of these data shows that the wintering season is divided into three characteristic periods: the beginning of wintering season; characterized by the observation of positioning flights accompanied by a regular cleaning of plumage, mid-winter; dominated by the sleeping and the end of the season; characterized by increased power associated with swimming.