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Doug Benning and I have completed the survey of southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan. Conditions across the survey area have significantly improved over 2008. The flooding has receded in stratum 38 and the area is looking good. Overall, the entire survey area looks good. Southeastern Saskatchewan throughout the Regina Plains is the driest part of the survey area, but even there, many basins have significant water. Southern Manitoba, from the US border to Dauphin looks very good, with many areas rated as excellent. It dries out a little as we proceeded north to The Pas; however, conditions are still greatly improved over last year. With the slightly cooler than normal spring and the higher than normal precipitation levels over the winter and into the spring, conditions should remain good throughout the nesting and brooding season. There was still a fair amount of ice in the northern section of the survey area, particularly on the larger water bodies, but nearly all of the smaller water was thawed, providing good conditions. Spring was certainly late and the farther north we got, the more evidence we saw of a late spring. Overall, I would rate the entire survey area as good and conditions vastly improved over the last several years.

We have completed the survey! We surveyed the Kotzebue Sound area (Kotzebue to Bettles), the Old Crow Flats area and the Nelchina Basin area. The Kotzebue Sound area survey went as planned, with decent numbers of waterfowl and good survey conditions. The Old Crow Flats area is in Yukon Territory, Canada. This area holds large numbers of white-winged scoters and lesser scaup (as well as numerous dabblers). To survey the Old Crow Flats, we flew the survey aircraft from Bettles to Fort Yukon and put on additional fuel. We then flew from Fort Yukon to the Old Crow Flats, conducted our survey, and returned to Fairbanks. The lakes on the Old Crow Flats were less icy than in recent years and scoter and scaup numbers were relatively high there. Our last survey area was the Nelchina Basin. This basin is significantly higher than other interior Alaska survey areas (>1,500 feet above sea level compared to <700 feet above sea level for other interior Alaska survey areas). Due to this increased elevation and resultant late spring arrival, this area is surveyed last. We flew from Fairbanks to the Nelchina Basin, surveyed the Nelchina Basin, landed at Gulkana to put on some additional fuel, and flew to Anchorage for the completion of the survey.

The 2009 Alaska-Yukon Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey went well with no significant problems. We expect some duck numbers to be down slightly from recent years, perhaps due to good nesting conditions further south.

A late spring delayed our start, and wind and weather have slowed us down a bit, but Carl Ferguson and I have finished our survey of northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. We are currently in Norman Wells, NWT. Habitat conditions are generally good across this survey area. Wetlands conditions vary as winter precipitation varied across the region. A fairly dry spring has limited the widespread flooding that often impacts early nesters. The important small wetlands often created by beaver dams appear to be in ideal condition. Although this is a late spring, there was an early warm up in some regions, which evidently allowed some early nesters to get underway in the smaller beaver flowages, ponds, and along miles and miles of small streams in this area. We are seeing flocked mallard drakes in these habitats, suggesting that some birds got an early start. However, the long lasting, severely cold winter is causing a delayed ice break up on the larger lakes. Consequently, we are still seeing groups of scaup and scoters in open leads along shorelines. However, we are also observing strong numbers of pairs and drakes of these species in the smaller wetlands. We plan to leave Norman Wells tomorrow, cross the Arctic Circle and finish the survey from Colville Lake and Inuvik.

The Atlantic crew area waterfowl breeding population survey for 2009 started May 3 in Stratum 62 (Maine) and was completed on June 4 in Stratum 67 (Labrador). Habitat conditions for breeding waterfowl were classified excellent in Maine, the Maritimes and Newfoundland, but good in Labrador. Southern strata experienced normal ice breakup and the flooding that plagued 2008 was noticeably absent in 2009. In Newfoundland, the lack of snowfall in the central highlands coupled with moderate temperatures created early nesting conditions for black ducks and Canada geese. Labrador, however, had a late spring because of below normal temperatures and above normal snowfall. In general, waterfowl numbers for most species were above the 2008 estimates and good waterfowl production should be expected.

Someone once said that when you see the light at the end of the tunnel be careful because it could be the train. After believing yesterday was going to be a bust, the weather gods pitched us flyable weather instead of the forecasted snow. It was our seventh straight day of flying, and we had only a half day left to complete the survey. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today dawned clear but at the airport the skies turned gray, the wind picked up and melting ice on the plane quickly refroze. An updated weather briefing said the train was coming through the tunnel, and we were grounded for the day.

We finished the survey today. Although we did not see anything notably different from the information in my last report, I have uploaded a few more photos.

Today we finished surveying the Yukon/Kuskokwim Delta (YKD). This is our largest survey area and has the most diverse and highest densities of waterfowl. The coastal zone of this survey area has very high concentrations of nesting geese, ducks, and swans. Densities are lower in the interior of the YKD, but numbers are still high. We surveyed this area for three full days, and while en route to Kotzebue via Nome (Seward Peninsula). The southwest portion of the YKD was slightly icier than normal. Our survey from Bethel to Nome was normal with good survey conditions. We encountered some poor weather between Nome and Kotzebue, which required us to fly around the mountains due to low ceilings. After we flew west around the mountains just north of Nome, we encountered good weather on the Seward Peninsula and into Kotzebue. We thought the Seward Peninsula would be slightly icier than normal (late spring), but we found good survey conditions on the Seward Peninsula with less ice on lakes than in recent years.

We have completed surveying the eastern Quebec and Anticosti Island areas in two days.

Anticosti Island is a sparsely inhabited island lying in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  The island rises from sea level to just over 1000’ in elevation.  Habitats consist of boreal forest creeks and beaver marshes, with the occasional low lying bog.  The remainder of this stratum consists of what is called the “North Shore” of the St. Lawrence and is characterized by high rugged terrain rising to elevations of 3000’ and the associated rapidly moving waters that funnel snow melt water down to sea level.  Habitats here also include some permanent lakes and perched shallow basins.

We have now completed our survey of Newfoundland, and have only one day left to finish up Labrador. We are pleased to report that overall conditions are classified as good or excellent in 2009. Winter temperatures were below average in both provinces, and Newfoundland had well below average snowfall, particularly in the central highlands. Newfoundland also experienced mild temperatures in late April and early May, creating early nesting conditions. Overall, Newfoundland’s habitat conditions were considered excellent.   In Labrador, colder temperatures persisted throughout early spring with lakes still frozen at the end of May and snow still dominating the higher elevations. Waterfowl concentrated on available habitat at lower elevations, but breeding social groups were still evident; we anticipate these pairs will move into habitat as soon as it opens up in early June. Overall, we rated Labrador habitat conditions as good. Timing of the survey was a bit late for black ducks in Labrador and Newfoundland – we observed only occasional groups – but was ideal for Canada geese, which were predominately recorded as pairs and singles.

We’re in Peawanuck, Ontario, on the shores of Hudson Bay at the mouth of the Winisk River.  We completed the boreal forest of the Nickel Belt and Claybelt Regions as well as the southern James Bay Lowlands last week and, in general, breeding habitats were in good condition and counts of most duck species were up from 2008.  After arriving in Peawanuck, we finished the northern James Bay Lowlands up to Cape Henrietta-Maria. Wetlands in this region were also in good condition, but conditions deteriorated in northern sections along the Hudson Bay where most water remained frozen.  Good numbers of dabblers, divers, snow geese, and Canada geese were found aggregated on what little open water existed around the Cape. Yesterday, in Peawanuck (May 30) we received approximately 5 inches of fresh snow and strong winds caused drifting. Today we will remove drifts around the plane and fuel drums while waiting on crews to plow the runway. We have only the Hudson Bay Lowlands west of Peawanuck (to the Manitoba border) to complete.

Today we arrived at Bethel, Alaska. We surveyed from Fairbanks to McGrath to King Salmon to Bethel over a period of 5 days. We encountered heavy flooding in the Innoko River survey area. This area floods often in the spring and occasionally in the fall. The extensive flooding may have caused decreased waterfowl densities and production in the area in the short term, but helps maintain good waterfowl habitat for the long term. We encountered one wildfire en route from McGrath to King Salmon. We had to discontinue the survey for about one mile while we flew around the fire. The survey around King Salmon (Bristol Bay) was conducted under good weather. Overall, water conditions and bird densities (with the exception of Innoko) were average to slightly below average.

Spring needs some muscle.  After leaving La Ronge, SK, we began surveying the lower lines in Stratum 21 and 23 near Buffalo Narrows, SK.  All of the small wetlands and lakes were ice free. The very largest lakes remained frozen, as expected, but the margins were thawed for several feet from the shoreline.  We were optimistic about the timing of the survey as we headed towards Ft. McMurray, AB for the night.  We picked up the next lines north out of Ft. McMurray the following morning on May 23 and flew east across the entire province of Saskatchewan towards Lynn Lake, MB for fuel.  Along the way we witnessed several flocks of snow and white-fronted geese, swallows and ducks migrating north.  The age-old pattern was repeating itself once again.  As we neared Manitoba, however, winter remained.  There was more ice than open water.  It was 34 degrees in Lynn Lake when we landed.  We had left Ft. McMurray in short sleeves, and when we landed back there that afternoon the temperature was in the low 70s.  A 40-degree difference in only 350 miles.

Our previous (May 9) report addressed survey activities and habitat conditions in the area south of Huron, SD.  As we progressed northward, the benefits of precipitation received during the winter of ’08-’09 were obvious. From Aberdeen, SD north to the Canada border, water levels and numbers of basins were generally considered good to excellent and significantly improved since 2008. Nesting cover though, is variable. Dry conditions last year allowed many of the smaller, shallower basins to be “tilled through.” This practice destroys plant communities associated with wetlands and leaves little or no residual nesting cover the following year. Add to those conditions over 800,000 acres of CRP lost in the Dakotas since 2007 and an additional 400,000+ contract acres scheduled to expire in 2009, and you have degraded and further fragmented nesting cover over significant portions of the landscape. Fortunately, the increase in the number of basins with water, particularly north of Aberdeen, should provide suitable nesting sites within reasonable distances to wetlands, though nesting success and brood survival may be reduced.

Patrick Devers and I finished the survey of Southern Saskatchewan today. Habitat in the aspen parklands is a mixed bag this year. The northwest parklands were fair, with a few good areas north of Saskatoon. The northeast parklands to the east of Saskatoon are fair to good. All across the area, we had the sense that the land was drying out. There is residual water from previous wet years, but no new water to speak of anywhere. We saw a lot of unoccupied water, and I have not looked at the estimates yet, but my impression is that we saw fewer waterfowl overall. This could be because the habitat conditions are so good down in the Dakotas and eastern Montana—a lot of ducks may have stopped short down there. This was a strange year. We’ve seen snow geese and white-fronts in decent numbers every day of the survey. We always see a few, especially on the northern end of our area, but this is the first time I remember seeing them every day. The north country must still be locked up tight in ice. Many of the aspens are only now starting to leaf out. Spring is 10 days to two weeks behind this year. Overall, I’d say conditions are still fair to good, but the trend is toward the dry end of the spectrum.

The weather is cooperating so far, and we are getting some good days of surveying under our belts. We flew north out of Cordova to Fairbanks, and while we were up there we surveyed an extra day for the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge. They wanted to do an expanded breeding pair survey on the refuge. Just to give a sense of scale, the Kanuti refuge is 1.6 million acres – roughly the size of Delaware. We ran our transect lines closer together, to provide more data for their survey. Other than that, we have not seen anything particularly unusual, other than a couple big fires. It is not supposed to be a bad fire year, but we’ve seen a couple big ones so far. Sometimes aerial surveys get scrubbed or delayed because of smoke from big fires, but we don’t anticipate that this time of year. Overall, water conditions and nesting continue to be about what we expect to see.

My observer Scott Boomer and I got off to a late survey start in 2009 due both to the delayed spring conditions, but also to an aircraft engine being pronounced dead after only 1.7 hours of use. An alternate aircraft was arranged, and we entered Canada on 16 May to find that spring conditions had caught up and birds were paired and distributed across the landscape. We surveyed the area between the 18th and 24th of May with only a few days lost to snow storms.  Larger, deeper lakes in the northern areas were still frozen shore to shore, but virtually all other water bodies were open.  Nightly freezes resulted in some skim ice on the smaller wetlands through the morning hours.

We flew into Calgary, Alberta today after completing the survey this morning. Our previous post on May 14 reported on the area between the US border and Red Deer, Alberta.  Since then, we have surveyed the areas between Red Deer, Edmonton, Cold Lake, Slave Lake, Grand Prairie, Peace River, Alberta; including Dawson Creek and Ft. St. John, British Columbia.

What a difference 12 hours makes.  After surveying under perfect conditions for 4 days, nearly 5 inches of snow greeted us this morning.  After we finished our last line yesterday, we could see the weather moving in and 2 hours later it was snowing.  Despite the return of winter weather, all of the small wetlands and the margins of all lakes are ice free. Some of the larger lakes still have ice in the main body of water, especially to the east near Flin Flon, Manitoba.  Buffleheads, ring-necked ducks, mallards and scaup are the most dominant species observed with smaller numbers of mergansers, green-winged teal and goldeneyes.  Once the weather breaks, we will continue to move north through Saskatchewan towards Lake Athabasca before shifting east to N. Manitoba.  The influence of Hudson Bay causes spring to arrive later in N. Manitoba.

Peter Fasbender and I completed our aerial survey of the Western Dakotas and Montana today. Overall, habitat conditions across all of eastern Montana and the western Dakotas is significantly improved over 2008 and over the previous 5 years. Nearly all primary and secondary river systems showed evidence of high flows during early spring. Upland vegetation looked great over most of the region. In southwest SD and western ND, habitat was ranked as good and excellent. These regions displayed 75-100% of basins containing water – most at full capacity. In the higher elevation terrain of eastern MT, the number of ponds (all types) and stream drainages is reduced compared to the Dakotas, however the area was still ranked as Fair/Good/Excellent in relation to what is typical. Pond numbers were up from both 2008 and the 10-year average on nearly all transects. The combination of good residual vegetation from 2008, a large increase in overall early spring precipitation, and the resulting response of 2009 upland vegetation has produced quite favorable waterfowl nesting conditions in the western Dakotas and eastern Montana. Brood habitat is expected to be good and overall waterfowl production should be very good for 2009.

Given winter’s reluctance to release its grip on northern waterfowl habitats, the crews surveying in the Bush start later than Prairie crews.  We began our first survey lines out of Prince Albert, SK on May 16.  Habitats in this region are a mix of agricultural fields and aspen and spruce forests.  This is the transition area from the Prairies and Parklands to the Boreal Forest.  There was a large variety of species prevalent on wetlands and occasional flocks of white-fronted geese were observed moving north to Arctic nesting areas.  Locally, timing of the survey seems to be excellent since we have observed a mix of paired birds as well as scattered small flocks of only drakes.  Survey conditions have been excellent with light winds and high overcast skies.

Today we finished up the 2009 survey down in the southwestern portion of our survey area, which we had to skip earlier in the week because of storms. We have been operating out of North Bay and Pembroke, Ontario, and we have seen a lot of ducks the past few days. This area is flatter than the northern areas, and has a lot of ponds. They’ve had above average precipitation this spring (150-200% above normal), so everything is wet. There is a lot of sheet water in the fields, and a lot of flooding. It’s hard to say how much of this flooding is due to the big storms that came through this week. Hopefully, that new water didn’t flood nests of early nesting species of waterfowl.

We finished up the grassland units of the survey today.  The grasslands northwest of Moose Jaw to the Alberta border are actually drier than last year.  The contrast between the extremely wet conditions in the southeast to the extremely dry conditions in the northwest grasslands is typical of the prairies.  Although temporarily bad for ducks, the wet-dry cycle of ponds in the prairies is critical to the long-term health of the habitat. The dry cycle allows the prairie to restore itself, and provides renewed resources to waterfowl when it becomes wet again.

We started our survey of Alaska and the Yukon Territory today. This is my fourth year on this route, while my observer, Debbie Groves, has been on it for 18 years. We took off out of Cordova, Alaska, this morning. The weather conditions were good, and bird distributions were about what we have come to expect.  Conditions on this survey area remain fairly consistent from year to year, unlike some of the other areas, where conditions may swing from total drought one year to flooding the next. We have seen some flooding along some of the rivers, which makes great habitat—not only for waterfowl, but for moose and other wildlife as well.  This is 33rd year that our highly modified Turbine Beaver airplane has been used on the survey. It was built in 1972 and has been used on this survey ever since 1977. It was built specifically to do wildlife surveys. With its Garrett engine, it has increased visibility and larger fuel load than other Beavers.  It is a one of a kind aircraft.

Although water in the southern grasslands is much improved over last year, this region dries out as you proceed north and west. I’ve been surveying this crew  area since 1971, and one of the hallmarks of the wetland habitat conditions in southern Saskatchewan is  the great diversity across the area. Rarely do we see consistent conditions throughout. This year appears to be no exception. The west-central portion of the province is dry, but the eastern and central parklands have reasonably good water. Spring came late this year, and we’re still seeing ice on some of the big lakes. But nesting effort is strong, and we are encouraged by the number of some species we are seeing, especially pintails. The late farming activity could have negative impact on them, but overall, I’m optimistic because of the fairly good water conditions in the southern grasslands and central parklands.  Over all, total duck numbers appear to be somewhat lower than expected, given the wetland habitat available. Many ponds are not occupied by waterfowl, likely a function of the excellent water available in other areas to the south (e.g., North and South Dakota).

After flying 5 days, we've seen that habitat conditions in Southern Manitoba are wetter and better than last year. In fact, there is massive flooding along the Red River on the eastern boundary of our survey area that has forced us to divert around it for now because the ground crews can't get in there. In places the river looks like you are approaching Lake Winnipeg. Levels are dropping as we speak, but there still are some roads closed. We will have to come back to that area later. Hopefully, the flooding won't have too great an impact on nesting. In stark contrast to Southern Manitoba, habitat in Southeast Saskatchewan is still dry. I would rate it fair at best. Southern Manitoba from Brandon south and west to the Saskatchewan border, however, looks great.

John and I have 9 days of surveying under our belts now, and the water conditions are still good, although eastern Montana is drier than the Dakotas. We’ve seen a lot of lone drakes, so nesting is in full swing. Landowners tell us that it was an unusually long, cold winter, with heavy snows. Although the snow was really hard on the cattle in the region, the meltwater from it has rejuvenated the landscape. That is great news for ducks as well as farmers — many of whom have not been able to get a crop off the land for several years in a row. We’re talking to a lot of optimistic landowners this year, who are happy to tell us where to find ducks on their property!

We finished our 5th day of flying today.  We have flown most of the area between the US border and Red Deer, Alberta.  Overall, the wetland and habitat conditions in our area are wetter in the west, when compared to the central and eastern portions. This is typical from what has been observed in the past.

Some large, intense storms over the Great Lakes region have caused us to change the order of our survey. Normally, we would have continued across the southern portions of our area towards Ontario before turning north, but weather dictated that we reverse the order. We have been operating out of Chibaugamu,Quebec, which is roughly in the center of this survey area. Most of this area is boreal forest. The eastern portion of the area has higher elevations than the western part, and we saw some beautiful waterfalls. Some of the lakes there were still frozen north east of Chibaugamu. The entire area has good water conditions. The lakes are all full and some are flooded. We didn’t see many ducks in the eastern region, but are seeing more in the western portion of this area.

We are almost halfway through our survey of Maine and the Atlantic provinces now, having completed Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and much of Nova Scotia. Habitat conditions remain excellent for all the areas we have seen to date. Numbers of black ducks, ringnecks, goldeneyes and Canada geese are up everywhere we have surveyed. Numbers may not be as high as we saw in 2007, but they are much better than 2008. Waterfowl in this part of the world seem to like small wetlands and beaver flowages, rather than the larger wetlands that might see tremendous use out in the prairies. The Atlantic seaboard will never have the sheer numbers of breeding ducks that are found in the prairies, but it’s great to see the numbers up from last year.

We finished our 4th day of air-ground survey work yesterday. Today we were on hold because of high wind conditions, so we’re catching up on some paperwork and making preparations to hit it hard as soon as the weather lets up. Conditions are still on the dry side, but we hear that conditions will get wetter as we move north.

We are grounded today because of weather, but we have completed 5 days of surveying to date. Conditions continue to be much better than last year on the areas we’ve seen so far. There are exceptions, of course. The Missouri Coteau north of Moose Jaw is mostly dry again this year, and there are even some dry stock ponds near the Alberta border. However, conditions throughout the southeast corner of the region are excellent, grading into good or fair as you move into the southwest corner.  And in nearly all cases, they are wetter than they were in 2008.

We just completed our 7th day of flying transects. We have covered all of the western Dakotas and are moving into eastern Montana. Habitat conditions we’ve seen this past week of flying continue to be much better than last year. Late last year, western South Dakota got a lot of moisture. It came too late to have much effect on breeding, but it caused great growing conditions for the habitat. This year, the moisture has come earlier, and much of that lush vegetation now has water on it. Some parts of this route have better conditions than I have ever seen in eight years of flying here.

Today we moved into the boreal forest north of Lake Huron, a region known as the Nickel Belt because of the important ore deposits found there.  This survey stratum extends north and east through the boreal forest and into the Clay Belt, an area of agricultural production on the Ontario-Quebec Border. Winter and spring precipitation in the Nickel and Clay Belts was average and wetlands throughout most of this area have been observed to be in good condition.  We are presently in Kapuskasing, Ontario (which is about 130 nautical miles from the southern shore of James Bay) waiting on weather to clear so we can resume the survey.

We’ve finished surveying our portion of New York and have worked our way up to just east of Montreal. This area is flat in the west, with rolling hills in east. They have had a very wet spring and water conditions are good to excellent, except for a notable area around Sherbrook, where conditions are fair. That is the only area we’ve seen so far that was dry. The Sherbrook area received 60% of normal precipitation from September 2008 to May 2009.

The Southern Saskatchewan crew area is very large, and the ground surveys use three crews of three people. Our first task prior to the survey is to meet with our pilot biologist, Phil Thorpe, and his observer biologist, Patrick Devers, to determine if nesting has progressed enough to begin the survey, and to  review and familiarize new staff with the pond classification process. This ensures consistency in our counting methodology.

We completed our 5th day of flying today. We were grounded for 2 days because of high winds. It was gusting up to 50 mph in portions of the survey unit. In general, habitat conditions are fair south of Huron, SD. We even encountered some poor conditions in the extreme southeastern portion of the state. Conditions get better further west.  Generally, I would rate overall conditions fair to good between Huron and Aberdeen. Overall, conditions in the areas surveyed thus far are improved since 2008. It has been a late, cool spring. It is supposed to warm up next week, which will trigger rapid vegetation growth. That will be highly beneficial to nesting waterfowl.

My observer Thom Lewis and I began the 2009 survey by flying out of Mitchell, SD. We would have started yesterday, but we had significant wind and rain, so we delayed a day. Today we surveyed between Mitchell, SD and the Nebraska border.  Wetland conditions in this area are slightly improved since 2008, but were not as wet as I expected.  All waterfowl species were present and early nesting species (mallards and pintails) are "getting down to business." 

My observer, Guthrie Zimmerman (USFWS) and I began the survey on May 8 in the interlakes agricultural region of southwest Ontario.  Snowfall was average across southwest Ontario through February when warm temperatures led to an early thaw. Snowfall and rain from February to May resulted in wetlands at full capacity at the time of the survey and nesting conditions across this region were excellent across southwest Ontario.

Dave Fronczak and I departed Calgary today to begin the 2009 survey of Southern and Central Alberta. I flew this survey for 8 years in the late 80s and early 90s.  It feels good to be back.  The feeling is similar to making connections with an old friend that you haven't seen in awhile.  Today we flew south out of Calgary toward the U.S. border. Water and habitat conditions looked good in the southwest end of the prairies.  However, there was a late April/early May snow storm that appeared to delay migration slightly. As we continued our flight, the central to southeast portion of the prairies looked fair to poor.

John Rayfield and I started the 2009 survey in Watertown, NY, just south of the Quebec border. For the past 18 years I have been flying survey routes in the Canadian Prairies and Parklands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The boreal forest in this area is very unique and different from what I am used to surveying. Spring timing appears normal. The trees are leafed out, ducks are paired up and the water is open. Refuges in northern NY report normal waterfowl migration timing this year. This area had a good, wet winter and fall with normal spring precipitation. Water conditions look good so far.