Further Evidence of Long-term Pair Bonds in Ducks of the Genus Bucephala

In holarctic ducks, pair formation occurs during the winter or the spring migration, or both, and pair bonds are seasonal, usually lasting until the onset of incubation by the female (McKinney 1986). Because males desert their mates during incubation and leave thebreeding grounds for molting, it has been thought that new pair bonds are formed every year and that repairing with the same mate does not occur.

GILLES GAUTHIER, Auk, Vol. 104