Decades of banding reveal where ducks go — and how we protect them.
Waterfowl banding has been instrumental in shaping the flyway system we recognize today. While early ornithologists and hunters observed that ducks and geese followed relatively predictable migration routes, banding provided the scientific data necessary to define and manage these flyways effectively.
By revealing broad migration patterns between northern breeding grounds and southern wintering areas, banding contributed to the formation of the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific Flyways.
The Atlantic Flyway spans over 3,000 miles, stretching from the Arctic tundra of Baffin Island to the Caribbean. As the easternmost migratory route, it covers 18 US states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. It also includes six Canadian provinces and territories: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Nunavut.
The Mississippi Flyway stretches more than 2,300 miles, following the Mississippi River and its 1.5-million-square-mile watershed from the boreal forests of Canada to coastal marshes of Louisiana. As North America's most heavily used migration corridor, it supports millions of waterfowl and other birds each year. This flyway is made up of 14 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. It also encompasses the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.
The Central Flyway covers more than one million square miles, stretching from Canada’s boreal forest and parklands across the Great Plains to the Texas Gulf Coast. As the most expansive flyway in North America, it supports a significant percentage of the continent’s ducks and geese. This flyway includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; portions of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico east of the Continental Divide; and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as the Northwest Territories.
The Pacific Flyway follows the Pacific Ocean, encompassing the most varied waterfowl habitats in North America. As the westernmost migratory corridor, it supports millions of birds traveling along the continent’s Pacific Coast and inland wetlands. This flyway includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington; portions of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide; and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Band recovery data during early years of the program revealed broad-scale associations between where waterfowl breed, their migration paths, and where they spend winter. These patterns demonstrated the need for regionally coordinated management, leading to the adoption of the four-flyway system in 1947 by which state and federal agencies collaboratively manage harvest and conservation of migratory game birds.
Banding helps shape hunting regulations—such as season lengths and bag limits—by providing critical data on survival and harvest rates that inform population models underpinning Adaptive Harvest Management and other harvest strategies. Harvest rates derived from banding data, when combined with estimates of total harvest, can be used to estimate population sizes. In fact, banding data are a critical component of more than 20 different harvest strategies and management plans, which collectively guide hunting seasons for over 40 species of migratory game birds.
Recoveries of banded birds amplify the international connections of migratory birds by linking the different landscapes where birds spend different parts of their year. Banding data have shown that birds banding in Canada, Alaska, or the Arctic during the breeding season are frequently recovered in the Lower 48 States, Mexico, or even Central and South America. These findings emphasize the importance of cross-border conservation between the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Today, banding plays a crucial role in:
Through ongoing banding efforts, we are deepening our understanding of waterfowl ecology, helping guide conservation and management decisions across North America's flyways for years to come.
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