Dry weather is challenging early-season waterfowlers across North Carolina, with record-low water levels reported in some areas of the Piedmont region. However, recent reports indicate some migrating ducks have arrived and are congregating in flooded impoundments, especially on national wildlife refuges.
“Not much has changed in the past month,” says Hunter Morris, waterfowl biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), “and it does not appear there will be any significant relief in the near future.”
Frances Farley, NCWRC migratory game bird biologist, adds that the mild weather hasn’t spurred any significant pushes of waterfowl, but early “calendar migrants” have been trickling in. “We’ve had migrating pintails, gadwalls, and teal settle into the eastern part of our state, but I haven’t heard of any exceptional numbers aside from a few good teal concentrations,” she explains.
Brian Van Druten, fish and wildlife biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alligator River and Pea Island National Wildlife Refuges, reports that the team at Pea Island conducted its first ground survey last week and found “very solid numbers of northern pintails and above-average numbers of American black ducks, with more than 5,000 pintails in South Pond alone.”
The first small flocks of tundra swans have also arrived along with some early diving ducks, including ruddy ducks, ring-necked ducks, lesser scaup, and redheads. Mallards, gadwalls, American wigeon, and northern shovelers were also in the mix.
At Alligator River, food production surveys of planted crops and moist-soil vegetation have been promising, but the ongoing drought is cause for concern. “Our normal source water to flood our early impoundments is too salty, so we cannot use it,” Van Druten explains. “We hope we can start getting rain to flood some of our impoundments.”
Ed Farley, DU manager of conservation programs, concurs that many natural wetlands in North Carolina need rain. Coastal areas recently experienced exceptionally high tides, and the drought has increased salinity in coastal rivers. While that has restricted opportunities for pumping water into some impoundments, the high tides could mean hunters can access more habitat in the coastal marshes.
“As always, scouting is essential to ensure you find a spot with water and hopefully some birds as well,” he says.
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