North Dakota Spring Breeding Index

[Scott M]

by Doug Smith, Star Tribune blogs

Good news for waterfowl and waterfowl hunters: North Dakota’s annual spring breeding duck survey showed an index of 4.8 million birds, up 16 percent from last year and 112 percent above the long-term average.

The index is the third highest on record.

All species were well above the long-term average. Wigeon (+88 percent) and green-winged teal (+221 percent) were at record highs. Mallards, gadwall, blue-winged teal, shovelers, redheads and ruddy ducks exceeded the long-term average by more than 100 percent.

Only pintails, shovelers and canvasbacks were down more than 10 percent from last year, and mallards were essentially unchanged. Blue-winged teal were at their highest level since 2001, missing the record high by less than 1 percent.

“Excellent production last summer brought many breeding pairs back to the state,” Mike Szymanski, waterfowl biologist, said in a news release. “Fortunately, there was still enough habitat to attract them to North Dakota.”

Here's more from the news release:

The spring water index was down 57 percent from 2011 and 6 percent from the long-term average. Compared to last year, Szymanski said water indices observed on individual transects were all down 50 to 65 percent. The water index is based on basins with water, and does not necessarily represent the amount of water contained in wetlands.

“Water conditions were good in larger wetlands, but the lack of snow this past winter and the lack of significant spring rains reduced the number of temporary and seasonal wetlands,” Szymanski said. “Undoubtedly, many wetlands dried up within days of completing the survey.”

Nesting cover in North Dakota also continues to decline. During the survey, Szymanski noted many large tracts of grassland and Conservation Reserve Program land had been converted to cropland since last year.

“North Dakota currently has about 2.3 million acres of CRP, which is down about 30 percent from 2007,” Szymanski added. “Projections are that more than 650,000 acres will be lost in 2012, and an additional 1.1 million acres will be lost in 2013-14. The loss of critical nesting cover will be disastrous for breeding ducks, other nesting birds and hunting opportunities in the future.”

The July brood survey will provide a better idea of duck production and insight into expectations for this fall. Observations to date indicate prospects for good production across the state given abundant breeding pairs and average wetland conditions.

[Finlander]

Awesome! I'll be there this year to hunt! My daughter and her new husband bought a farm in ND and she is expexting her 1st baby this September, so Grandpa will have to visit there alot during the huntind season!

[TylerS]

It's not all roses. I hope people don't gloss over this juicy little tidbit:

Quote:

Nesting cover in North Dakota also continues to decline. During the survey, Szymanski noted many large tracts of grassland and Conservation Reserve Program land had been converted to cropland since last year.

“North Dakota currently has about 2.3 million acres of CRP, which is down about 30 percent from 2007,” Szymanski added. “Projections are that more than 650,000 acres will be lost in 2012, and an additional 1.1 million acres will be lost in 2013-14. The loss of critical nesting cover will be disastrous for breeding ducks, other nesting birds and hunting opportunities in the future.”

[Finlander]

Ethanol, what a waste!

[GatorGetter]

Hunt em while they are still here. Its going to be a blast this fall....ducks and geese.

Quote:

Good news for waterfowl and waterfowl hunters: North Dakota’s annual spring breeding duck survey showed an index of 4.8 million birds, up 16 percent from last year and 112 percent above the long-term average.

The index is the third highest on record.

[Gordie]

Well maybe just maybe the trend is some off those ducks moving back this way with all the rain Minnesota has been getting the last couple years..

Well one can hope can't one

Tyler it is really sad that NoDak is losing so much nesting grounds and I'm sure that its like that in quite a few other states as well but you guys for some reason are going to be hit the hardest.

[BoxMN]

I know our NoDak farmer friends were telling us of all the crp that was getting put into production again, and holy cow I couldn't believe how much they were talking about, and that is just one farming family. Add the other big farms around there and it will look much different in the next year or more...

[brittman]

Ducks will do OK without CRP. The late 70s and early 80s provided excellent duck hunting before CRP was even a thought. If the prairie is wet, ducks will find away. If the prairie is dry, ducks move on.

Pheasants on the other hand will drop to real low levels. They need the more expansive grasslands to build high numbers.

Now if they start draining more wetlands and drain tiling more land which then eliminates TypeI wetlands ... ouch!

[creepworm]

Winter wheat is the best nesting habitat for ground nesting birds. As long as some of the lost CRP is replaced with Winter wheat it will alleviate some of the lost CRP