Duck Populations Recover From Drought

Waterfowl hunters in the Great Lakes region will likely have better luck this year. The duck populations spending the summer in Canada are up. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

Waterfowl hunters in the Great Lakes region will likely have better
luck this year. The duck
populations spending the summer in Canada are up. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham has more:


The duck populations suffered as many of the prairie potholes and small
ponds in much of
Canada’s prairies dried during the past few years. But things this
year are different. Henry
Murkin is chief biologist with Ducks Unlimited – Canada.


“What’s happened is water’s come back to the breeding grounds and the
ducks have come back
as well.”


Murkin says many waterfowl have recovered from the cyclical dry spell.


“Most species are up and they’re either at or very near to their
long-term averages.”


The mallard duck count was up 30 percent over last year. Other
waterfowl are also doing better.
Murkin says the wet-dry conditions are part of the ducks’ natural
cycles. He says he’s more
worried about habitat loss for the waterfowl in both the U.S. and
Canada.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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