September 16th aerial survey

We flew the 3rd teal flight on Tuesday, September 16 th . Wetland habitats in the Illinois Valley are flooded extensively, yet duck abundance continues to increase despite flooding. This weekend marks the last days of the early hunting season, and Teal numbers are 24% above the 10-yr average (www.bellrose.org); however, species composition is beginning to change. Last week blue-winged teal were dominant, but now green-wings outnumber blue-wings nearly 3:1. Additionally, American coots are up threefold from last week. The cooler temperatures over the last several days likely pushed the blue-wings further south.

The last couple weeks I have discussed wetland habitat conditions and the availability of duck foods during fall; however, I haven’t explained what it takes to provide a smorgasbord for waterfowl. Ideally, we would like to see water levels drop during mid-June to early-July along the rivers. As floodplain waters recede, mudflats are exposed allowing seeds to germinate. Our studies at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge found that 1,800 pounds/acre of moist-soil seeds were produced with a late June/early-July drawdown, whereas, only 500 pounds/acre were produced when the drawdown was delayed a month (i.e., early-August). Obviously, the more food we have available during fall, the more duck use days we can support, which ultimately provides more recreational opportunity for our waterfowl hunters.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…

graph
Figure 1. Estimates of stopover duration (days) for ducks and an annual index of foraging habitat quality (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent) in the Illinois River valley during falls 1996, 1997, 2003, and 2005–2009.

September 11th aerial survey

flooded wetlands
Many wetlands along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers were deeply flooded following rainstorms on September 9th and 10th. Illinois River water was rapidly filling Spunky Bottoms south of Beardstown, IL, on September 11th.

The rain finally stopped and we were able to get in the air for the 2nd teal flight on Thursday, September 11th . A major rain event like this week (4–8 inches over the Illinois River watershed) makes our rivers jump drastically. Water levels at Havana jumped 6 feet in two days and the water is still rising. Certainly this flooding will destroy most of the duck food remaining in the Illinois Valley. Only wetlands protected behind major levee systems will be spared from flooding (i.e., Chautauqua NWR, Emiquon Preserve, and Hennepin & Hopper Lakes). On a brighter note, many duck clubs and public waterfowl areas along the river will save on pumping costs this year.

There were only minor changes in waterfowl abundance this week. Teal numbers in the Illinois River valley were up by 4,800 birds, and both blue-winged and American green-winged teal were near their 10-year averages (www.bellrose.org). Most of the increase was due to a small advance in the green-winged teal numbers in the Illinois Valley. Teal numbers on the Mississippi River were again low this week and only totaled 1,820 birds at census locations; 70% below 10-yr averages. Hopefully, cooler weather will increase duck numbers along both rivers before the last week of teal season. Teal season is scheduled to close at sunset on September 21st.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…

September 3rd aerial survey

The first teal flight for fall 2014 is in the books. Duck numbers for the Illinois River exceeded the 10-yr weekly average by 21% and totaled 32,910 total ducks. Blue-winged and American green-winged teal abundance (21,540) was similar to the 10-yr average (21,975). Total ducks on the Mississippi River were well below the 10-yr average and totaled 6,109 ducks. The September 4th weather forecast in North Dakota predicts strong northwest winds at sunset; maybe we will get a big push of teal out of the prairies before this weekend’s teal season opener.

My early September estimate of wetland habitat conditions for waterfowl this fall ranks well below average for both the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. It has been a rainy summer and consequently the Illinois River has been elevated for most of the growing season. The last rise in water levels on August 23rd destroyed much of the waterfowl foods in the unprotected wetlands of the Illinois Valley. Most of the refuges and duck clubs along the Mississippi River had below average moist-soil plant growth as well. Some notable exceptions include Dardenne, Cuivre, and Port Louisa on the Mississippi River and Hennepin & Hopper, Douglas Lake, Banner Marsh, Emiquon, Cuba Island, Big Prairie, and Spunky Bottoms along the Illinois River. Other refuges, like Chautauqua NWR, were able to achieve a late-season drawdown so they will have some duck food; however, plant growth at many wetlands along both rivers was a bust this summer.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…

December 13th aerial inventory

We flew the Illinois and Mississippi river waterfowl survey on Thursday, December 12th. There wasn’t much open water anymore. The old saying, “Stick a fork in it, I think we are done” comes to mind! A colleague of mine said, “you can tell the haves from the have nots”. He was referring to hunters that have the ability to maintain open water and those that can’t. Almost all of the Illinois River was frozen with the ducks piled into a few open water spots. This week was one of a few times since I began doing the survey in 2005 that Dardenne and Cuivre in St. Charles County, Missouri were frozen. These refuges generally hold 30,000 to 50,000 ducks each in December. The Illinois River had 108,665 total ducks which was nearly 40% below the 10-yr average for this week of December. The Mississippi River faired a little better than the Illinois, but it was still 22% below average. Pool 19 was almost completely frozen and most of the divers had departed. I guess we will have to hunt geese for the rest of the season. Good Luck and stay warm… Stay tuned for more updates next week…

December 6th aerial inventory

I flew the Illinois River waterfowl survey on Friday. We had about 125,000 ducks which was down about 40% from last week and about 50% below the 10-yr average; see www.bellrose.org for more details. Many of the refuges had significant ice coverage on Friday, and with the low temperatures and projected forecast, I anticipate many areas are completely iced up by Sunday morning. This doesn’t mean that all the ducks have left the Illinois River. Mallards are keen at finding open water and keeping it open. Those duck hunters that have the ability to maintain open water will continue to harvest mallards, but the rest of us will have to hit the corn fields to duck hunt.

Good Luck and stay warm….it’s cold out there! Stay tuned for more updates next week…

November 29th aerial inventory

Ice ducks! I flew the Mississippi River on Friday November 29th. It appears there was a major migration into the region. Nearly 3/4 of a million birds on the Mississippi. Canvasbacks arrived in big numbers on Pool 19, and mallards are holding on in small pockets of open water at many refuges. However, we lost the majority of the non-mallard dabblers. The following is a photo of what mallards look like from the air when the wetlands start icing up. Numbers are posted at www.bellrose.org.

Stay tuned for more updates next week.

November 20th aerial inventory

There are still a bunch of ducks along both the Illinois and Mississippi rivers with 600,330 and 597,335 total ducks, respectively. These numbers are very similar to what was here last week. Actually, I think these ducks have been here for a couple weeks now. Many duck clubs and public land hunters are telling me that the harvest has dropped off over the last several days. Hunters like to call these birds “stale”. In other words, they have been in the area for too long and have figured out where the refuges are. They are duck blind, decoy, and call shy. Duck hunting is best when we have many smaller duck migrations into Illinois. These new influxes of ducks every 4 or 5 days create a situation where new birds are mingling around the various wetlands trying to find food and refuge. Therefore, they are more naïve and huntable than ducks that have been around for a while.

Speaking of harvest, where do you think our mallards come from? The accompanying slide shows where mallards harvested in Illinois breed. Band recovery data from the 1990’s shows that while we still get a lot of our birds from the prairies, the percentage of mallards coming from the Great Lakes states has increased substantially since the 1960’s. Over 28% of our mallard harvest comes from ducks reproducing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and yes, right here in Illinois. Let’s hear it for the Conservation Reserve Program for putting grasslands back on the landscape!

Good luck in the deer stand this weekend and stay tuned for more updates next week…

November 14th aerial inventory

Wow, we had a bunch of ducks. Last week’s count of the Illinois River was 876,255 total ducks. This was a huge number of birds for recent times. In fact, you would have to go back to 1979, when Tud Crompton was flying the survey, to get a larger number of ducks in the Illinois Valley. Michelle Horath told me last week’s number of American green-winged teal, gadwall, and northern shoveler was the highest ever recorded for each of these species since the survey began back in 1948. Frank Bellrose himself never saw that many teal, gadwall, and shoveler. However, it was short lived. The cold weather and northerly wind on Monday and Tuesday forced many of them out of the Illinois Valley. I have displayed a screenshot on Facebook of Doppler radar shortly after sunset on Tuesday night. It was a clear night so the “thunderstorm” you see is actually ducks departing the Illinois River. You can see large masses of birds leaving the Havana/Bath and Chillicothe/Lacon areas of the river. Today’s, November 14th, count of the Illinois River was 595,055 down 32% from last week, but don’t get discouraged. We are still 150% above the 10-yr average. I plan to fly the Mississippi River on Friday November 15th, so check back tomorrow to see how many birds we have on the Mississippi.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…

November 6th aerial inventory

I was recently asked to settle a dispute between a father and son, both veteran duck hunters of the Illinois River. They had a disagreement about how big their decoy spread should be. The question was posed, “while flying, can you tell one blind from another by just the size of decoy spread.” My answer was a very quick, YES. I can see larger decoy spreads from greater distances while in the airplane. I can also see larger groups of ducks at greater distances than smaller concentrations given similar wetland habitats. I know of duck blinds along the Mississippi River that use 4,000 to 5,000 decoys with 10-15 spinners, a few squirters, and a couple jerk strings. They shoot a lot of ducks. Other clubs use a few dozen decoys that are picked up each day, and they are very successful as well. Most of the time from the plane, I can’t tell the difference between expensive decoys and the cheaper variety, but I think this boils down to personal preference. I can’t say for sure if ducks decoy better and hunter success increases over larger spreads, but my personal experience suggests you need as many decoys as your wallet can afford. Other things I see from the air are the openings (shooting holes) in duck blinds. These openings stand out and maybe the ducks begin to figure it out as well. The same thing goes for a boat placed 25 yds from a decoy spread. The hunter might not be able to see the boat from the ground, but a wary mallard can see it from the air. In the end, it comes down to location, location, and location. If they guy next to you has 1,000 decoys, you’re probably not going to be very successful with 2 to 3 dozen. I have posted (Facebook – Forbes Biological Station) a few pictures of decoy spreads taken from the plane for you to view. I believe hunters in duck blinds that blend into the existing vegetation with decoy spreads that simulate natural aggregations of ducks on a wetland probably harvest more birds than other hunters in less cryptically positioned blinds with fewer and evenly spaced decoys. But, you be the judge.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…

October 28th aerial inventory

Well, we made it through the central zone opener and from what I hear it was pretty good overall. Opening day is always met with a huge amount of optimism; however, in reality, it isn’t one of the days that stand out over the course of the season. I have word from the Mississippi River Area that they harvested nearly 2,600 ducks; 31% above the long term average and 2.13 birds per hunter. Hunters at the Emiquon complex also found similar success at just under 2 birds each. Other Illinois River public sites boasted average to above average harvests, and several private duck clubs in the Havana area harvested 10-15 ducks per blind. If your hunt wasn’t as successful, don’t get discouraged. As one hunter told me, “it’s just the start buddy.”

We usually have a major jump in the number of waterfowl observed in the Illinois River valley after the central zone opener due to the fact that ducks are concentrated on the refuges after being forced out of hunted wetlands. This trend continued again this year; however, the number was so staggering, we must have had a movement of ducks into Illinois. Total duck numbers in the IRV jumped from nearly 361,000 total ducks on October 23rd to over 595,000 on October 28th. This was a 65% increase over the 5-day period. Similar to last week, non-mallard dabblers are accounting for the majority of total ducks along both the Illinois and Mississippi rivers with northern pintail, gadwall, and American green-winged teal contributing greatly to the overall total. Mississippi River hunters should be encouraged because lesser scaup have started trickling in on Pool 19. This year has the potential to be a banner year for waterfowl hunters along both rivers. Let’s hope the trend continues as the migration progresses.

Stay tuned for more updates next week…