A 50-year history of the summer breeding duck survey that is prepared and reported by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service. These counts take place on the major breeding grounds of the US and Canada. The majority of the survey is done from the air and the same transects are flown every year to guarantee a consistent model. The dotted red line represents the long-term average.
This chart represents data collected through Summer 2005
May Ponds Survey
In the same manner that breeding birds are surveyed, the May Pond Count is a survey of the number of ponds in the major breeding areas. This count represents the quality of breeding habitat in a given year. Like the breeding duck survey, the same transects are used every year to guarantee a consistent model. The dotted red line represents the long-term average.
This chart represents data collected through Summer 2005.
Points Of Interest
- The quality of breeding ground habitat and the population of breeding ducks are cyclical in nature and directly proportionate.
- Breeding ground habitat must go through dry cycles to regenerate critical aquatic food sources breeding and newly hatched ducks need to survive. Without dry cycles these ponds would become void of aquatic food and have no value to waterfowl. These dry cycles are nature's way of rejuvenating the Duck Factory and are necessary for the existence of North American waterfowl.