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Abstract
While many waterfowl studies focus on breeding populations, studying waterfowl non-breeding and annual ecology can elucidate important aspects of population dynamics. The ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) is one of the most abundant and highly harvested diving ducks in the Atlantic Flyway. However, few studies have investigated ring-necked duck annual or seasonal ecology. Therefore, I quantified ring-necked duck overwintering survival probability and wetland selection in the southern Atlantic Flyway, spring migration strategies, and breeding site distributions. I identified regional disparities in overwintering survival probability, variable wetland selection during and after the hunting season, and discrepancies between spring migratory and breeding strategies and the North American adaptive harvest management framework. My findings warrant further investigation into the seasonal and annual population dynamics of ring-necked ducks. Moreover, my results support concerns that North American waterfowl management and harvest regulation are not well-designed for ring-necked ducks and species with similar ecology.