May is an important month for waterfowl, and waterfowl hunters across North America. The annual survey of May Ponds takes place this month and one of the primary indicators of the nesting potential for North American waterfowl. This survey also plays a major role in determining the season length and bag limit for the waterfowl hunting seasons ahead. As the surveys get underway conditions are mixed across the US and Canadian breeding grounds, but the overall picture looks promising, so far.
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If you are interested in keeping up with this year’s waterfowl nesting efforts, Ducks Unlimited will again be posting weekly, detailed, findings from their nest success research program. To learn more about this program and to keep up with the latest from the program’s field staff visit www.prairieducks.org and click on the G.I.S. Research option on the left hand menu.
And now, on to the Breeding Ground Report.
May kicked off with rainfall across much of the prairie breeding grounds. Some areas received as much as three inches of rainfall over the past week, just in time for the May Pond counts.
Going into the 2006 nesting season, the overall picture shows improvement from the same time period last year. It should be noted, however, that conditions improved dramatically late in the 2005 nesting season due to abundant precipitation towards the latter part of the month.
All that being said, the stage that is set for the kick-off of the 2006 waterfowl breeding season appears to be in pretty good shape. A quick comparison of drought impact maps from 2005 to 2006 show improved conditions in many parts of the Prairie Pothole Region as well as Montana and the breeding survey areas of the Great Lakes area.
As of this week, both short and long term weather forecast are predicting a steady improvement in conditions for almost all of the breeding areas. Regular precipitation, after nest initiation, can help stabilize and improve both nest success and brood survival.
While we wait for the surveys to come in, Waterfowler.com will keep you up to date with the latest on breeding ground conditions and the prospects for the coming waterfowl seasons.
