Most folks know the Clint Eastwood movie, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Well this is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in population trends among species of waterfowl through time. Why do some species populations do well (The Good), why do some species cycle so strongly (The Bad), and why did some species populations tank and then never recover (The Ugly). First and foremost, we live on an amazing continent with a diversity of waterfowl species to pursue, harvest, and eat. From Canada to the US, and into Central America and beyond, our waterfowl are a conservation success story. We should be thankful for that. Period. But what makes some waterfowl species populations grow, others decline but rebound, and others tank. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. DrMike again digs deep into these data to talk waterfowl population trends through time.

We welcome Grant Rhodes to The FowlWeather Podcast Young Waterfowl Professional Series. Grant is in Dr. Kevin Ringelman's avian ecology lab at the University of California Davis working collaboratively with the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. Hisresearch is focused on using drone-based methods to better understand waterfowl brood abundance and duckling survival in relation to habitat characteristics and management actions in the Canadian Prairie Pothole Region. Grant has extensive experience flying drones to survey waterfowl and waterbirds and is passionate about using drone-based methods to improve our survey designs and ultimately our conservation efforts. 

Breeding waterfowl surveys do not predict mid-winter and migration surveys. Non-breeding season surveys have very specific objectives. They should not be compared to breeding waterfowl survey numbers. DrMike details why the USFWS breeding waterfowl and mid-winter surveys are Apples and Oranges…they are not comparable. DrMike goes off again! “I don’t have ducks, but they predicted ducks”…TEARS. BooHoo……NOoooo, JUST, NO!. Nobody predicted ducks in front of your blind. Just get out and hunt ducks when the weather is right, just get out and hunt when The FowlWeather Podcast predicts fresh ducks. Learn more about the purpose of migration and mid-winter waterfowl surveys today on The FowlWeather Podcast.