The Food of Kingfishers and Mergansers on the Margaree river, Nova Scotia

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Abstract
The river, particularly its northeast branch, contains chiefly salmon and trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Kingfishers shot along the northeast branch contained chiefly salmon remains, but also trout, sticklebacks and suckers. Disgorged kingfisher pellets showed the same food for the northeast branch but consisted chiefly of sticklebacks where that fish abounded. In feeding experiments young kingfishers consumed forty or more fish each per day. The numbers consumed by kingfishers on the Northeast Margaree in 1935 is estimated to have been 330,000 salmon, 50,000 trout, and 40,000 other fishes. They evidently fed upon the food most easily obtained. American mergansers were found frequenting the salmon and trout habitats, rearing their young on the smaller streams. Stomach analyses of 28 birds shot on the Northeast Margaree give as food 82.2% salmon, 6.3% trout, 11.5% other fishes. The estimated consumption on the Northeast Margaree for July to October, 1935, is 390,000 salmon and trout.

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