Quick update from the survey last Thursday, September 11. The Illinois River continues to drop, but the freshly exposed mudflats won’t have time to grow new food before the end of the growing season. While this year’s trend in blue-winged teal migration seems to match that of previous years, abundance is quite lower. Blue-winged teal (14,595) and total duck (20,360) abundance were below their respective LTAs for the Illinois River this week (-32%, and -41% respectively). Blue-wing abundance was also low along the MS River, down -33% and -43% from LTA for blue-winged teal (4,715) and total ducks (6,160), respectively.
Here’s hoping these trends aren’t indicative of the waterfowl migration that is to come later this fall! We hope to get in the air tomorrow for this week’s waterfowl survey.
