By Bart Ballard, Ph.D.

Wintering habitat loss in this state’s coastal counties may be contributing to declining pintail populations

The Texas coast is a premier waterfowl hunting area that annually provides migration and wintering habitat for millions of ducks and geese. Its mild winter climate and diversity of wetland habitat attract a variety of waterfowl, especially northern pintails. During the 1970s, when continental pintail populations were last at high levels, more than 1 million of these birds wintered along the Texas coast. Pintails use a variety of habitats in this region including coastal ponds and open bays dominated by sea grasses, but the birds have an especially strong preference for flooded rice fields.

Unfortunately, a sharp decline in rice production in recent decades has greatly reduced wintering habitat for pintails and other waterfowl along the Texas coast. The decline in rice acreage has been especially severe in the Mid-Coast region west and south of Houston, an area that supports some of the largest concentrations of wintering pintails in the Central Flyway.

Ducks Unlimited and the Gulf Coast Joint Venture recently conducted habitat evaluation work investigating the impact declining rice production has had on wintering waterfowl in this region. The findings of this research indicate the Mid-Coast region currently has insufficient foraging habitat to support wintering populations of pintails and other waterfowl. In fact, this research suggests an additional 82,000 acres of foraging habitat must be restored to meet the birds’ needs. Waterfowl spend much of their time feeding and resting during winter, and the birds need an abundance of high-quality foraging habitat to survive at acceptable rates over winter and to allow them to return north in good breeding condition.

DU and its joint venture partners are especially concerned about how declines in rice agriculture might affect wintering pintails along the Texas coast. During the last several years, DU has worked with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University–Kingsville to study the winter ecology of pintails in the region. These efforts have examined pintail over-winter survival, habitat use, local and regional movements, and body condition to assess potential effects of declining habitat on the birds.