This and that...

[DComeaux]

Thank you. I hadn't seen this video.

[Duck Engr]

I’ll go ahead and put my prediction hat on and say that means we’re going to have a better year than the previous two!

[Rick]

Weeeeell...haven't followed it closely, but my impression's been that the heavy Midwestern rains have mostly missed the Canadian PPR. Could be more drains and plows as usual where it counts most. Should be "interesting" to see how the coming season goes, anyway.

Thing I remember most about when the Mississippi topped/broke(?) her levees mid-country some years back was the number of wood ducks that showed and flew our area in big bunches resembling jacks at a distance.

[Darren]

Weeeeell...haven't followed it closely, but my impression's been that the heavy Midwestern rains have mostly missed the Canadian PPR. Could be more drains and plows as usual where it counts most. Should be "interesting" to see how the coming season goes, anyway.

Thing I remember most about when the Mississippi topped/broke(?) her levees mid-country some years back was the number of wood ducks that showed and flew our area in big bunches resembling jacks at a distance.

Canada's PPR has been carrying the bpop's in recent years as I understood it, since ours was so poor in the Dakotas. A switch would be just fine.......the young ones are that much closer to us


"South Dakota is extraordinarily wet"

Yes please

[Rick]

Pretty sure that Montana and the Dakotas' contribution, other than blue-wings, isn't much compared to the Canadian PPR's. But at least we should see blue-wings again...

[SpinnerMan]

Here's an interesting source.

https://www.birdzilla.com/birds.html

Select a species and then click on the distribution tab and it will provide range during breeding season based on Breeding Bird Survey data from the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

Blue-winged teal. I actually saw a pair in that light pink in northeast Illinois this morning.


Green-winged teal


Mallards.

[Rick]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

[SpinnerMan]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

This is from the USGS. It should be the best data we have. Granted, there is plenty of uncertainty and big yearly variation and shifts with time. It is just a birding site that makes the USGS data easily available to us.

[Darren]

Pretty sure that Montana and the Dakotas' contribution, other than blue-wings, isn't much compared to the Canadian PPR's. But at least we should see blue-wings again...

Perhaps Larry would opine sometime, but I never have understood this to be the definitive case, that the US PPR (reduced as it is) is but a fraction of production versus Canada. My take, right or wrong, has long been that many species start there, and only continue to Canada's PPR upon finding poor conditions here domestically.

[Rick]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

This is from the USGS. It should be the best data we have. Granted, there is plenty of uncertainty and big yearly variation and shifts with time. It is just a birding site that makes the USGS data easily available to us.

Don't know how that particular info was generated, but I've seen similar distribution maps showing good numbers of woodcock supposedly breeding in South Louisiana which ended up having been generated by an annual bird count birders (likely mistaking king rail for woodcock) participate in. Not all birders are as serious and well educated as the best of them. And that sure seems the likely case in those maps.

[Ericdc]

Just the sheer size of the breeding grounds north of the border is why so many more breed there, including the parklands and boreal forest.


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[SpinnerMan]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

This is from the USGS. It should be the best data we have. Granted, there is plenty of uncertainty and big yearly variation and shifts with time. It is just a birding site that makes the USGS data easily available to us.

Don't know how that particular info was generated, but I've seen similar distribution maps showing good numbers of woodcock supposedly breeding in South Louisiana which ended up having been generated by an annual bird count birders (likely mistaking king rail for woodcock) participate in. Not all birders are as serious and well educated as the best of them. And that sure seems the likely case in those maps.

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/american-woodcock-2

There is limited nesting in the extreme southern part of the woodcock’s range, which occurs from January to February.

But on your main point, I don't disagree. There is a lot of uncertainty. But the dark colors are going to be pretty reliable. The light pinks or whites, not that important are not that reliable.

[Rick]

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/american-woodcock-2

There is limited nesting in the extreme southern part of the woodcock’s range, which occurs from January to February.

.

I'd love to see their evidence of that, as the overwhelming majority of our wintering woodcock come and go with northerly and southerly winds. No time for nesting on that schedule, and I've never even heard of the males' pre-breeding sky-dancing here, much less witnessed it.

[SpinnerMan]

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/american-woodcock-2

There is limited nesting in the extreme southern part of the woodcock’s range, which occurs from January to February.

.

I'd love to see their evidence of that, as the overwhelming majority of our wintering woodcock come and go with northerly and southerly winds. No time for nesting on that schedule, and I've never even heard of the males' pre-breeding sky-dancing here, much less witnessed it.

I obviously have no idea. But it's on the internet so it must be true

[Rick]

There be rougarou on the internet, too.

[DComeaux]

I've never even heard of the males' pre-breeding sky-dancing here, much less witnessed it.

I have, on many occasions. Late December through January in the deer woods this is what I'd hear and see. That was an indication to me that hunting season was coming to an end. Turn up the volume.

[Rick]

Dave, I've sat watching and listening to them up home plenty often enough to hear it in my head without a video, and if you've heard it once down here, you're a hell of a lot luckier than I.

[DComeaux]

As I mentioned, I've heard and seen this display often down here in Louisiana and Mississippi. I don't know that I've ever seen or heard this south of I10, though.

[Johnc]

What is the sound they make when taking off like in the time between end of legal shooting and blackness?

Kind of sounds like that but just not for near that long. Is that sound I am referring too just a flight sound?

[Rick]

Probably so. Their end three primaries are narrow, and the males' especially so, and often make the twittering sound you're likely referring to when they flush - though not always. Even the males can slip out silently at times.

[Rick]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

This is from the USGS. It should be the best data we have. Granted, there is plenty of uncertainty and big yearly variation and shifts with time. It is just a birding site that makes the USGS data easily available to us.

Got curious enough to check out the birdzilla site and follow it to the Breeding Bird Survey that generated its distribution map, where I found this:

BBS data are collected by thousands of dedicated participants along thousands of randomly established roadside routes throughout the continent.

Which sure reads like volunteer birders, though it goes on to say that pros process the data.

(Was nice to see that their most recent count has our summer woodcock down to the "one and below"??? range. The one I'd seen by what certainly seems the same methodology years back was downright bizarre.)

[Rick]

Some fair-sized but barely airworthy young wood ducks worked the bug out on our country circuit this morning, which got me feeling ducky enough to check on how far out the gunning is: still over the 100 day mark, though not by much...

[SpinnerMan]

Birdwatchers are counting park mallards and likely mis-IDing green-wings in the lower 48.

This is from the USGS. It should be the best data we have. Granted, there is plenty of uncertainty and big yearly variation and shifts with time. It is just a birding site that makes the USGS data easily available to us.

Got curious enough to check out the birdzilla site and follow it to the Breeding Bird Survey that generated its distribution map, where I found this:

BBS data are collected by thousands of dedicated participants along thousands of randomly established roadside routes throughout the continent.

Which sure reads like volunteer birders, though it goes on to say that pros process the data.

(Was nice to see that their most recent count has our summer woodcock down to the "one and below"??? range. The one I'd seen by what certainly seems the same methodology years back was downright bizarre.)

Lots of use of volunteers in science. Just unavoidable. I recently was trained to be a weather observer for the National Weather Service. When you see a tornado warning and it says trained spotter reports, that is someone like me. It's just a necessary part of the process. The professionals know they need to take with a grain of salt what the amateurs report, but without it, they would be nearly blind in many aspects. It's good science, but that doesn't make it perfect. It really depends on how many volunteers they have. The more there are the less impact bogus reports will have.

[Rick]

Didn't say volunteers couldn't be helpful for all sorts of things, just that I take the annual bird counts, shall we say, "with a grain of salt".

[SpinnerMan]

Didn't say volunteers couldn't be helpful for all sorts of things, just that I take the annual bird counts, shall we say, "with a grain of salt".

[Bud]

Only two mallards and one pintail this season where I hail from. Boy! copied The Summerville News

By Editor | June 6, 2019 | 0
SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (June 6, 2019) – Waterfowl hunters can begin making season plans now that the 2019-2020 migratory bird season hunting dates and regulations were recently approved by the Board of Natural Resources.
“The 2019-2020 waterfowl hunting season has changed compared to previous years,” said Greg Balkcom, state waterfowl biologist for the Wildlife Resources Division. “The duck hunting season will end on the fixed date of January 31 each year, not the last Sunday in January. The daily bag limit for mallards dropped to two this year, with no more than one hen, and the pintail bag limit dropped to one. These bag limit changes are responsive to population levels for these species.”
Behind the scenes, the process used to select the waterfowl hunting regulations in the Atlantic Flyway also changed.
“Rather than select regulations based on the status of Eastern mallards, we now look collectively at the status of four species; wood ducks, ring-necked ducks, American green-winged teal, and common goldeneye,” said Balkcom.
If you want to know more about the changes to the migratory bird regulatory process, or about the status of mallards, visit https://georgiawildlife.com/hunting/waterfowl.
Some need-to-know dates and details for waterfowl season are the September Canada goose season (Sept. 7-29) and the September teal season (Sept. 14-29). Canada goose hunting has three additional seasons: Oct. 12-27, Nov. 23–Dec. 1, and Dec. 12 – Jan. 31. Hunting season for ducks is Nov. 23-Dec. 1 and Dec. 12-Jan. 31. A complete summary of migratory bird hunting season dates and bag limits is online at www.georgiawildlife.com/hunting/regulations.
Youth Waterfowl Days are Nov. 16-17, 2019. On these two days, youth age 17 or younger may hunt specific migratory birds, such as ducks, Canada geese and mergansers, as long as they are accompanied by an adult of at least 18 years of age (only the youth may hunt).
State license fees help support wildlife conservation in Georgia. The state receives federal funds from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program, based on a number of factors, including the number of paid sporting licenses. In Georgia, these funds are approximately $14 million a year and have helped restore habitat and improve wildlife populations, among other conservation efforts. Hunters may purchase licenses online at www.GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com , by phone at 1-800-366-2661 or at more than 800 license agent locations.
For more information, visit www.georgiawildlife.com/hunting/regulations.

[Rick]

All that damn flooded corn in the Maritime Provinces is hiding so many Atlantic Flyway mallards that yours had to be cut.

But if it's any consolation, the damn flooded corn across all of Canada is hiding so many pintails that all of our flyways are back to one of those.

[SpinnerMan]

The only people in the midwest that plant corn this year may be those planning to flood it for ducks. I've heard rumors that the farmers are already starting to collect insurance on corn since it is too late to plant it. They still might be able to get some beans in the ground if it ever stops raining long enough to dry out the fields. I haven't seen a single field that has been planted yet

I doubt we see the fields stacked full of mallards after our ducks season closed like last year. Maybe this will prompt them to move down before our season closes. This might really change behavior.

I'm really worried that our goose pits might be in weed fields. Without the corn, there won't be anything to hold them once it gets really cold.

[Ericdc]

It’s the same thing in lower Mississippi delta. Very little rice planted and some beans. The corn looks good but it’s planted for harvesting then disked, not for ducks. The geese do feed heavily in them though.

I think they’ve got a good bit of rice in in Southwest LA but once you get north of Alexandria, it’s a different story.


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[Bud]

Glad someone may get to shoot four mallards.

Guess all that counting means little to me. I read about it and had to comment how it affected our limits, based on four other breeds of ducks no less. Cutting the mallard limit in half may send more our way if we get the weather. Who knows?

Have to admit I'm a lot more concerned about the weather and folk affected by it, than the limits, nowadays. I don't make my living doing it, though, and pray for a great season coming up for all. Maybe the flooded areas that weren't planted will move the ducks and geese south a little quicker, who knows. Some things just can't be counted.

I had more fun hunting with the same couple of dozen dekes with my old hunting buddy to worry about the weather or the limits. When we were young, we used to not even think about anything but getting ready to go; come rain or shine and wind or none, we were going hunting!