Post by Woody Williams on Mar 23, 2010 10:29:09 GMT -5
Hopefully, ducks will show up next season after year's absence
PHIL POTTER COLUMN
In 26 days, the bulk of duck species returning to the Canadian and American Prarie Pothole Region nesting grounds will have passed through the Tri-State.
The biggest questions left are how many ducks will actually return, what are the numbers of breeding hens and what conditions exist across the breeding range? Based on snow and rainfall, the potholes, swamps and lakes of the north should be brimming with water. Excluding late flooding, average nesting conditions on or near water should be good.
But is ample water the only key to producing enough ducks for the fall flight? Before the 2009-2010 seasons, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service indicated good water and nesting conditions had created record numbers and a great season was in store for the lower 48. And it should have been as winter arrived in mid-October in most northern states and Canada.
What was bad for them should have been a bell ringer farther south. But ice and snow plagued areas all around the Tri-State with the worst winter since 1978. Mediocre concentrations of birds restlessly flitted through, resulting in a very poor season.
Despite constant on-line vigils and endless forays afield, no one except parts of Texas and Louisiana seemed able to find very many of the promised ducks. So did the predicted millions simply disappear or were they grossly miscounted to begin with? While it is technically possible that backwater that covered most of the nation resulted in some concentrations of ducks cross-migrating and dodging detection, how could they all have dodged the food and safety of the entire chain of federal and state refuge systems?
Shouldn’t large flocks of returning breeders now be seen? With March fast evaporating, each new day should summon stragglers to head north — but to date local bird watchers haven’t reported any abundant concentrations.
Among the ducks here is a disturbing skewed sex ratio that gives indication that hen ducks of all species seem in short supply. A few years ago the average reported ratio for most returning species was three to five drakes per hen. Spot checks at Hovey Lake, Sauerheber Refuge, Bluegrass Fish & Wildlife Area, Cane Slough and Patoka Wildlife Refuge are showing the drake ratio to be seven to 10 per hen, causing undue competition for breeding rights.
When too many drakes force themselves on a single hen, she can be exhausted by the repeated mating to the point that sometimes she gets drowned in the process.
Hens under stress usually respond by laying several infertile eggs per clutch. That means her initial nesting attempt may fail to produce enough ducklings during this critical period. While she may attempt to re-nest, it is rare for most duck species to successfully bring off two broods in a single season. If the year starts with skewed duckling numbers, the fall flight will definitely have lesser recruitments.
Between now and September there are still lots of possible population variables. So hope that the phantom duck legions that dodged us during the season will somehow materialize on the nesting grounds.
Better yet, maybe the feds can account for what’s really out there.
PHIL POTTER COLUMN
In 26 days, the bulk of duck species returning to the Canadian and American Prarie Pothole Region nesting grounds will have passed through the Tri-State.
The biggest questions left are how many ducks will actually return, what are the numbers of breeding hens and what conditions exist across the breeding range? Based on snow and rainfall, the potholes, swamps and lakes of the north should be brimming with water. Excluding late flooding, average nesting conditions on or near water should be good.
But is ample water the only key to producing enough ducks for the fall flight? Before the 2009-2010 seasons, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service indicated good water and nesting conditions had created record numbers and a great season was in store for the lower 48. And it should have been as winter arrived in mid-October in most northern states and Canada.
What was bad for them should have been a bell ringer farther south. But ice and snow plagued areas all around the Tri-State with the worst winter since 1978. Mediocre concentrations of birds restlessly flitted through, resulting in a very poor season.
Despite constant on-line vigils and endless forays afield, no one except parts of Texas and Louisiana seemed able to find very many of the promised ducks. So did the predicted millions simply disappear or were they grossly miscounted to begin with? While it is technically possible that backwater that covered most of the nation resulted in some concentrations of ducks cross-migrating and dodging detection, how could they all have dodged the food and safety of the entire chain of federal and state refuge systems?
Shouldn’t large flocks of returning breeders now be seen? With March fast evaporating, each new day should summon stragglers to head north — but to date local bird watchers haven’t reported any abundant concentrations.
Among the ducks here is a disturbing skewed sex ratio that gives indication that hen ducks of all species seem in short supply. A few years ago the average reported ratio for most returning species was three to five drakes per hen. Spot checks at Hovey Lake, Sauerheber Refuge, Bluegrass Fish & Wildlife Area, Cane Slough and Patoka Wildlife Refuge are showing the drake ratio to be seven to 10 per hen, causing undue competition for breeding rights.
When too many drakes force themselves on a single hen, she can be exhausted by the repeated mating to the point that sometimes she gets drowned in the process.
Hens under stress usually respond by laying several infertile eggs per clutch. That means her initial nesting attempt may fail to produce enough ducklings during this critical period. While she may attempt to re-nest, it is rare for most duck species to successfully bring off two broods in a single season. If the year starts with skewed duckling numbers, the fall flight will definitely have lesser recruitments.
Between now and September there are still lots of possible population variables. So hope that the phantom duck legions that dodged us during the season will somehow materialize on the nesting grounds.
Better yet, maybe the feds can account for what’s really out there.