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One of the most important elements in duck-breeding success is
the amount of water present on the prairie breeding grounds. When the survey
was conducted in May, total pond counts for the “Overall, this season should be a little more productive than
last year,” said Dr. Bruce Batt, DU’s chief biologist. “The stage was set last summer and
fall when most areas had at least fair precipitation. That left ponds in
better condition at freeze-up and also meant there was better-than-normal
residual nesting cover on most upland habitats. The increased populations
along with timely precipitation this spring and summer, should help assure
good conditions for a strong nesting effort and good wetland conditions for
brood rearing.” 2006 Breeding Ducks By Species (in millions) Mallard populations showed a smaller than expected 8 percent
increase in numbers, with an estimated 7.3 million mallards on the prairies
this spring, compared to last year’s estimate of 6.8 million birds. They
are 3 percent below the LTA. “Mallard populations are still at healthy levels,” said Batt. “But as with all waterfowl, we need to be diligent
about conserving their habitats.” As part of its new Wetlands for Tomorrow campaign, Ducks
Unlimited recently launched the mallard
conservation initiative, designed to conserve the mallard duck’s most
vital breeding, migration and wintering habitats in the prairies, and in
other areas such as the Great Lakes region, the Chesapeake Bay, the
Mississippi River watershed, the Columbia Basin and key areas of California. Perhaps the best news coming out of the survey this year is that
pintail numbers are up 32 percent. “That population jump will be quite helpful as we continue to
conserve and restore critical breeding habitat under our pintail conservation
initiative, which is designed to sustain a more prolonged recovery of the
species,” said Batt. Pintails are still 18 percent below the long-term average, but
this year’s increase will certainly help.
“We knew that the pintails had a good production season in 2005
even though the spring count was relatively unchanged from the spring of
2004,” said Batt. “It was extremely wet across the
southern prairies in general, and the core pintail breeding areas in Most other species increased this year as well. Blue-winged teal
jumped 28 percent from last year, with an estimated 5.9 million birds (30
percent above their LTA). Green-winged teal also increased 20 percent with
2.6 million birds (39 percent above the LTA). There were an estimated 2.8 million breeding gadwall on the
prairies, which boosts their population by 30 percent since last year,
bringing it to 67 percent above the LTA. Redheads also increased 55 percent
since 2005 with 916,000 birds, 47 percent above the LTA. Canvasbacks
increased 33 percent since last year, with an estimated 691,000 breeding
birds on the prairies, a healthy 23 percent above their LTA. Northern shovelers also multiplied. With 3.7 million shovelers on the prairies, their numbers are 69 percent
above the LTA. “A couple of species didn’t do so well though,” said Batt. “Wigeon numbers were 17
percent below their long-term average with 2.2 million birds, and most
disappointing were the scaup numbers.” Scaup went down by 4 percent since last
year, continuing a long-term pattern that has persisted for the last twenty
years. They are now 37 percent below their LTA. “We are especially concerned about the further decline of the scaup, which have reached an all-time low this year,”
said Young. “DU and others are continuing with targeted research programs on scaup that we hope will soon give us a better
understanding of what we can do to help the species recover.” “Overall, the results this year are quite encouraging, and
remind us that habitat is the core factor driving the health of duck
populations and the size of the fall flight,” said Young. “Again, we are
seeing that there is still enough habitat when it is
wet to hold duck populations at numbers that promise to support a good fall
flight. However, that habitat is under siege on many fronts and is being lost
at alarming rates. It has never been more important to maintain our focus on
restoring and protecting these habitats so they can continue their important
work for future generations. We must not allow any more species to dip to the
low levels that are demonstrated by scaup and
pintails.” Throughout May and June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
the Canadian Wildlife Service survey the main waterfowl breeding habitats in
the mid-continent area across to With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the
world’s largest wetlands and waterfowl conservation organization. The Contact: Laura Houseal |
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