| OhioWaterfowler.com USFWS, DU & Delta Waterfowl News |
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July 2, 2010 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its preliminary report today on mid-continent breeding ducks and habitats, based on surveys conducted in May. The total duck population is nearly 41 million, which is similar to last year's estimate and 21 percent above the long-term average. "These are encouraging numbers as we see most species are at or above their long- term averages," said Dale Humburg, Ducks Unlimited chief biologist. "The habitat conditions in many regions should support a good breeding effort." Habitat conditions across the U.S. and Canadian prairies and parklands were generally good. However, further north, wetland conditions in boreal regions of Alaska and northern Canada were only fair at the time of the survey. During the survey and into early summer, many regions important to breeding ducks received significant precipitation, which could increase later breeding efforts and ensure brood survival. If these wet conditions continue, prospects going into the winter and possibly into spring 2011 could be favorable as well. Mallards, gadwalls, green-winged teal, northern shovelers and redheads mirrored last year's numbers, and all remained above their long-term averages. Canvasback and American wigeon numbers were similar to last year's, as were pintail and scaup numbers, although populations of these two species remain below their long-term averages. "It's great to hear the report of steady duck populations, but habitat loss continues to be a significant threat to North America's waterfowl," said Dale Hall, DU CEO. "For most species, this year's numbers are encouraging, but DU must remain dedicated to its mission of long-term, landscape-level habitat conservation if we are to meet the life-cycle needs of the continent's waterfowl." "I would expect to see a fall flight similar to last year's," Humburg says. "But everyone must keep in mind that weather and habitat strongly influence the timing and distribution of ducks in the fall flight, and these factors are very dynamic. Although I'm optimistic about the 2010 fall flight, it's several months before the season opens, and a lot could happen to migration and wintering habitat before then." July 2, 2009 Editors: For immediate release. For additional information, contact John Devney at 888-987-3695, Ext. 218. Breeding Population Survey Released; Wet Conditions Attract Ducks to Dakotas BISMARCK, N.D.-At first glance, the results of the 2009 duck breeding population and habitat survey are eye-popping: May ponds across the prairie breeding grounds increased 45 percent from a year ago, the total duck population was up 25 percent and mallard numbers climbed 10 percent. Look closer, however, and some of the survey's findings explode from the pages like a Fourth of July fireworks display. "If you would have told me 10 years ago we’d have twice as many pintails nesting on the U.S. side of the breeding grounds as Canadian prairie, I would have laughed in your face," said Dr. Frank Rohwer, Delta’s scientific director. Yet that's exactly what happened this year as 1.4 million pintails nested in the Dakotas and eastern Montana while only 664,000 set up housekeeping in prairie Canada. The U.S. side of the region also attracted 78 percent more blue-winged teal (4.5 million) than prairie Canada (2.5 million) and a higher percentage of mallards than any other year since the survey began in 1955. The results of the breeding-population and habitat survey were released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service. The B-pop, as it's called, is the most extensive wildlife inventory on the continent. The total duck breeding population rose 13 percent from 37.3 million to 42 million, and for the first time ever more ducks (14 million) settled on the U.S. side of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) than the Canadian side (12.7 million). "That's sobering news for prairie Canada, which continues to experience sub-par duck production, but exciting news for the U.S., where nest success has been excellent because of an abundance of grass and a scarcity of red fox," says Dr. Rohwer, "Ducks track ponds and the Dakotas and eastern Montana are wet," says Senior Vice President John Devney. "Not only that, but thanks to heavy rains in June, our grass cover is in excellent shape and we’ve maintained good wetlands, which bodes well for re-nesting and brood survival. "We ought to be making a bunch of baby ducks this year," echoed John Solberg, the USFWS pilot-biologist who flies the eastern Dakotas survey each spring. "We're very wet, and the cover response to recent rains has been incredible." A breakdown of the numbers shows the PPR had a 45-percent year-over-year increase in May ponds to 6.4 million. Prairie Canada was 17 percent wetter than a year ago and 5 percent wetter than the long-term average while the U.S. side had a whopping 108 percent increase in wetlands and was 87 percent wetter than the LTA. The mallard population climbed from 7.7 million to 8.5 million. The U.S. attracted a 2.96 million mallards while 3.04 million settled in prairie Canada. Among the other most popular species, gadwall numbers were up 12 percent to 3.1 million; green-winged teal rose to an all-time record of 3.4 million; blue-winged teal rose 11 percent to 7.4 million; northern shovelers climbed 25 percent to 4.4 million; northern pintails were up 23 percent to 3.2 million; canvasbacks were up 35 percent to 662,000, and scaup rose for the third straight year, up 12 percent to 4.2 million, the highest level since 1999. The only species to show a drop in breeding numbers were redheads, which were down one percent to 1.0 million, and wigeon, down one percent to 2.5 million. The PPR constitutes only 10 percent of North America's breeding habitat but annually attracts two-thirds or more of all nesting ducks. The surveyed portion of the region includes North and South Dakota and a sliver of eastern Montana in the U. S., and prairie Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada. About 75 percent of the PPR exists in Canada, which historically attracted 75 percent of the ducks that nest there. During the wet cycle of the 1990s, duck production on the U.S. side of the border increased dramatically thanks to 5 million acres of grass nesting cover provided by the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). "Things look great right now," Devney says, "but hunters need to remember we've lost more than a million acres of CRP just since 2007 and more contracts will expire this year. On top of that, we’ve been losing native prairie at an alarming rate and several million more acres are at risk. If we can’t find a way to preserve existing upland cover, we simply won’t enjoy this kind of production in the future." Estimates of Breeding Ducks Species 2009 2008 % Change from '08 % Change from LTA Mallard 8.512 7.724 +10 +13 Gadwall 3.054 2.728 +12 +73 American Wigeon 2.469 2.487 -1 -5 Green-winged Teal 3.444 2.980 +16 +79 Blue-winged Teal 7.384 6.640 +11 +60 Northern Shoveler 4.376 3.508 +25 +92 Northern Pintail 3.225 2.613 +23 -20 Redhead 1.044 1.056 -1 +62 Canvasback .662 .489 +35 +16 Scaup 4.172 3.738 +12 -18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Ducks 42,005 37,276 +13 +25 All numbers in millions. LTA is long-term average. |
| Hunter Activity and Harvest Report for 2009 Season Released Monday, July 19, 2010 The latest Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report has been released, reporting that over 13.1 million ducks were harvested in the United States during the 2009-2010 waterfowl hunting season, down from 13.6 million from the previous season. The number of harvested geese also decreased somewhat, from about 3.8 million harvested in the 2008-2009 season to 3.3 million harvested nationally in the 2009-2010 season. In addition to downloading the full report, you can also generate custom harvest trends reports to quickly and easily view the information that is important to you. With these custom reports, you can view harvest trends for a specific species in a specific state; or you can view results for all ducks or all geese on a national level or within a selected flyway; or you can see the total of all ducks and geese at the national level. Results from these custom reports are presented in line graph format to easily illustrate harvest trends from 1961 through 2009. To view harvest activity reports for previous years, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management website. Click HERE for the full report |
| 2010 Duck Numbers and Habitat Survey Available Friday, July 02, 2010 Preliminary results for the 2010 Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey are now available. The estimate of 40.9 million birds is similar to last year’s estimate of 42.0 million, and was 21% above the long-term average. The total pond estimate was 6.7 million, which was similar to last year’s estimate and 34% above the long- term average. Habitat conditions were characterized by average to below-average moisture and a mild winter and early spring across the entire traditional (including the northern locations) and eastern survey areas. Note: Estimates sometimes change between the preliminary numbers and final results. Click HERE for the news release Click HERE to view pond numbers Click HERE to view breeding population estimates Click HERE to view habitat conditions map Click HERE to view the trends report |