The Laguna Madres of Texas, USA, and Tamaulipas, Mexico, are the most important wintering areas for redheads (Aythya americana) as most of the continental population winters in these lagoons. Redheads forage in the saline waters of the Laguna Madre and make daily flights to coastal freshwater ponds on the adjacent mainland to drink. The abundance and spatial distribution of coastal ponds varies depending on precipitation and can influence the foraging pressure on adjacent seagrass meadows. We conducted weekly aerial surveys to monitor coastal pond use by wintering redheads from mid‐October through mid‐March along the entire length of the Laguna Madre of Texas, during 2000–2003 and in 2012–2014. We developed 3 parameters to provide a measure of biological value of each coastal pond to redheads: amount of foraging habitat within 10 km of each pond, water permanence of the pond, and the potential to distribute redheads if inundated. During 101 aerial surveys across 5 years of study, we identified 140 coastal ponds that were used by redheads. We developed a prioritization scheme to identify wetlands that remain inundated in all years and targeted them for conservation protection. We identified those coastal ponds that, if enhanced through increasing their water permanence, would provide additional drinking sites during dry years and help distribute redheads on more foraging habitat, thereby reducing potential overgrazing on seagrass meadows. We identified 3,624 ha of foraging habitat (21.5% of all foraging habitat) in the lower Laguna Madre that had no coastal ponds within a 10‐km radius and, thus, was proximal to potential areas for coastal pond creation. Our results provide guidance for resource managers to protect, enhance, or create coastal ponds to reduce foraging pressure on seagrass meadows in the Laguna Madre and help sustain future populations of wintering redheads. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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优先保护沿海池塘以防越冬红发

美国得克萨斯州的拉古纳·马德雷斯（Laguna Madres）和墨西哥的塔毛利帕斯州（Tamaulipas）是红发最重要的越冬地区（美洲Aythya），因为这些泻湖中大多数大陆人口都在越冬。红发女郎在拉古纳·马德雷（Laguna Madre）的盐水中觅食，每天飞往邻近大陆的沿海淡水池塘喝水。沿海池塘的丰度和空间分布取决于降水量，并可能影响相邻海草草甸的觅食压力。我们每周进行一次空中调查，以监测从2000年10月中旬到3月中旬在得克萨斯州拉古纳马德雷全长的越冬红发在2000-2003年和2012-2014年期间对沿海池塘的使用。我们开发了3个参数来衡量每个沿海池塘对红发的生物学价值：每个池塘10公里以内的觅食栖息地数量，池塘的水永久性以及淹没时红发的分布潜力。在为期5年的研究中进行的101次空中勘测中，我们确定了140个红发使用的沿海池塘。我们制定了优先计划，以识别多年来仍被淹没的湿地，并将其作为保护目标。我们确定了那些沿海池塘，如果通过增加其水的持久性加以增强，将在干旱年份提供更多的饮水场所，并有助于在更多觅食栖息地上分配红发，从而减少海草草甸上过度放牧的可能性。我们在拉古纳·马德雷下游发现了3,624公顷的觅食生境（占所有觅食生境的21.5％），该半径在10公里半径范围内没有沿海池塘，因此靠近潜在的沿海池塘创造区域。我们的结果为资源经理提供了指导，以保护，增强，或创建沿海池塘以减轻拉古纳马德雷海草草甸的觅食压力，并帮助维持将来越冬的红发人群。©2021野生动物协会。