A Pair of Pintail Ducks

According to  “Bird Watchers Digest” article ” Ducks Numbers Doing Fairly Well” ,  last summer the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Canadian Wildlife Service released their mid continent water fowl  and habitat survey covering more that 2 million square miles over the north central and northeastern U.S.;  south central, eastern and northern Canada; and Alaska.  The reason is to estimate the numbers of water fowl in the primary nesting grounds. The past several years had not been optimal for the water fowls because of drought and loss of habitat.  But this year the results have been promising .  The survey predicted with the duck populati9n to be almost 41 million – 21% above the long term average (1955-2009).  The ducks and geese have already started their way south to southern Canada and southern gulf  states.  The numbers available for hunters is much better than the past several years.  One year ago the Texas gulf coast did not receive enough fresh water from rainfall  for sea grass  to flourish.   Sea grass is the favorite food for their nourishment.  There is concern for two species,  the northern pintail. and American black duck which are below their long term average.  It remains to be seen if the gulf oil spill will effect the water fowl that migrate to that area.  Hunters may kill 2 pintail ducks daily as compared to only 1 last season.    On a personal note my son is a U.S. Coastal certified fishing guide and hunting guide in Port Aransas, Texas,  and  had a disappointing season last year because the lack of ducks and the warm clear weather in late December and January.  Hunters prefer cool or cold weather with low hanging clouds for optimal hunting environment.  Written by Jack Kidd

A Drake Mallsrd

American Black Dick