Category: Migration Updates

Photo credit by Caleb Spiegel, USFWS and Flyways.us

The May Breeding Surveys have concluded and conditions vary greatly across the waterfowl breeding range.  Overall, pond counts will be lower this year with breeding pairs will be near the 2011 and 2012 counts in most areas.

Hello folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.

In an average year the complexity of conducting the survey is monumental at best.  This season the late arrival of spring and harsh weather patterns added widespread delays and difficulty to the entire process.  Despite the delays caused by these storms, they did provide much needed rain in areas in many areas of the Dakotas. Continue reading

Photo by Jim Wortham, USFWS

Data collection for the Annual Waterfowl Breeding and Habitat Survey will begin in just a few days.  As ground and aerial teams embark on the most extensive wildlife survey conducted each year, Waterfowler.com reminds its readers that real-time updates and reporting are available to the public at FLYWWAYS.US.   As the teams traverse the breeding grounds, readers can access updated reports, photographs and habitat reports throughout the data collection process.  While we do relay the information here in summary format, if you want a front seat in the cockpit with the survey team for your breeding areas, visit FLYWAYS.US today. Continue reading

Saving the tundra under the Conservation Order.

The spring migration of mid-continental light geese continues this week with a fresh round of precipitation from yet another winter storm. While light goose numbers are nearing the annual peak in South Dakota, substantial numbers remain in Nebraska, and southwest Iowa at this time. As hunters in North Dakota ready for the first arriving flocks, North Dakota Fish and Game has published their most recent webcast to discuss the season with waterfowl biologist Mike Szymanski. Continue reading

Since 1997 Waterfowler.com has provided interactive tools to duck and goose hunters across the nation to track the migration.  Over the years, Waterfowler.com has continued to grow our audience into a valuable media source for industry advertisers.

Thanks to their ever increasing support, Waterfowler.com can open it’s doors to duck and goose hunters across the nation as a completely FREE service.

For our members that have supported us over the years we are not only thankful of your contributions but will continue to provide sponsor level memberships that will hide certain advertising throughout the site.  In addition, the member discount program program will be expanding this year and be the focus of our all new MEMBER RENDEZVOUS travel program — we members will qualify for exclusive discounts with select guides and lodges at WFC gatherings.

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Hen Mallard Flying (c) Steve Davis

Snow and ice in the north have pushed ducks further south but many mallards remain in areas with limited open. From Texas panhandle to Delaware, duck numbers remain below average for this time of year. Goose hunting activity and hunter success has increased dramatically with the snow in the upper third of the nation. Light goose hunting is good to excellent in the north-central states of the coastal flyways with Canada goose hunting in the middle tier of the heartland and central plains good to excellent.

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Bluebill at the docks. (c) Steve Davis

While there are many variables in migration but an abundance of snow will always move ducks and geese south. Snow accumulation from western Montana to Wisconsin has finally blanketed the upper third of the flyway and forced ducks and geese south. The concentration of mallards in South Dakota has begun to move south along with mid-continental light geese. Mallard numbers are on the rise from Nebraska to central Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, with Canada goose numbers ramping up in areas just below the snowline. Continue reading