Migration Alert: Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska Swarming with Light Goose Hunting Opportunities
Sporadic reports of small flocks of light geese are trickling in from South Dakota, but a major surge in goose numbers in northwest Missouri and parts of Nebraska has hunters frantically rushing to the fields in these areas. Last week's polar vortex stalled the migration, but as the weather cleared and the winds shifted to the south, massive numbers of light geese moved north.
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Migration Alert: Light Geese Trickling North, Cold Front May Stall Migration
Light goose hunters throughout the lower Mississippi and Central Flyways should prepare for just about anything next week. A warming trend has the birds beginning to head north, while the expected arrival of a powerful cold front may stall the spring migration. Fortunately for Mid South goose hunters, the game isn't over – it's just getting interesting.
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Migration Alert: Mid-Winter Thaw Benefits Colorado Waterfowlers
A mid-winter thaw is renewing hope for a strong end to the waterfowl season in Colorado. Canada geese arrived early along the Front Range north of Denver, says Avery pro-staffer Vance Stolz, but the bulk of the birds shifted to urban areas when the temperatures plummeted last month.
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Migration Alert: South Texas Hunters Hope for Better Hunting Weather
After a solid start to the waterfowl season, many hunters in Texas's South Zone have reported lackluster results since the season reopened. It has been perplexing for many veteran waterfowlers and outfitters because the coastal prairies and marshes are full of ducks.
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Migration Alert: Ample Food, Adequate Water Keeps Oklahoma Hunters Optimistic
Avid Oklahoma waterfowler David Williams says that he can gauge the potential of the upcoming season long before the first flights of ducks and geese arrive in the Sooner State. It all comes down to food, Williams says, so when he sees farmers enjoying a productive summer growing season, he knows that migrating waterfowl will have a buffet come fall. And this year, Oklahoma has duck and goose food aplenty.
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Migration Alert: Texas Waterfowlers Looking to Finish Strong
Texas coastal ponds, prairies and marshes rested for 14 days and an Arctic front pushed ducks in from the north. Unfortunately, the second split opener of the 2013-214 season coincided with a full moon, leaving hunters to watch empty skies as sat idle.
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Migration Alert: Frigid Temps Change Waterfowl Behavior in Kansas
Ducks Unlimited Television co-host, Zac Pederson explains the hunting conditions in Kansas this week. Facing frigid temperatures, waterfowl have modified their feeding and resting behavior, making afternoon hunts the key to success.
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Migration Alert: Winter Weather System Impacts Kansas Waterfowl Hunters
Dec. 11, 2013 - Central Flyway - Kansas
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Migration Alert: 840k Mallards on Missouri River in South Dakota
The situation playing out along the Missouri River in central South Dakota is similar to what hunters witnessed in 2012. Massive waterfowl numbers are once again rafting up on this large impounded river system and feeding in adjacent grainfields in droves.
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Migration Alert: Waterfowl Season Off to a Strong Start on Texas Coast
It's a good time to be a duck hunter on the Texas Gulf Coast. Timely rains and cold fronts have made for a great beginning to the waterfowl season in this region. The rice prairies of Matagorda, Wharton and Colorado counties have more water now than they have had in recent years, providing vital habitat for wintering ducks, geese and sandhill cranes.
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Migration Alert: DU TV Reports Steady Migration in North Dakota
The DU TV crew in North Dakota reports flights of new birds coming out of Canada. This is good news for Central and Mississippi Flyway hunters.
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Migration Alert: Strong Local Duck Production Drives Success in Montana
Reports of successful waterfowl hunts have been trickling in to Bob Sanders, Ducks Unlimited manager of conservation programs for Montana, from all over the state since the season started on September 28, but things have turned sour in recent days, and it has nothing to do with the ducks.
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Migration Alert: Early Season Success for South Dakota Duck Hunters
The opening day of the duck season marks the official arrival of fall for many hunters in South Dakota, and for those who took to the fields and marshes this past weekend, autumn seems to have arrived with a bang.
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Migration Alert: Kansas Wildlife Area Has Best Waterfowl Habitat in Decades
Last year's drought limited waterfowling opportunities on the area, but this phenomenon allowed natural and planted vegetation to gain a foothold throughout the property. Late-summer rains pushed rain gauges to 10 inches the first week of August, creating superb waterfowl habitat conditions.
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Migration Alert: Texas Bluewings Arrive Just In Time
The Thursday Outdoors section of the Houston Chronicle, a barometer for many coastal hunters and fishers, painted a bleak picture for opening day teal prospects. What a difference a day makes.
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Southern Prairies and Playas Initiative
Protecting, restoring, and enhancing the grasslands and wetlands of the Southern Great Plains to support migrating waterfowl populations in the Central Flyway.
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Migration Alert: Goose Hunting is Great
Late last summer, just before the opening bell on early waterfowl seasons, the chatter among hunters was about the record number of ducks poised to come down the flyway. Now that seasons are closed for many waterfowlers, or at least will be closed in the near future, that cautious optimism has done a 180... Truth is, just like every year, some hunters succeed where others fail.
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Migration Alert: Hard Water Sends Birds South
By most accounts, Texas waterfowlers have been enjoying a banner season, especially during the second half of the split.
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Migration Alert: Low water, limited food spreads birds thin
Dec. 14 - Central Flyway - Kansas: Most of Kansas is dry, just like much of the Central Flyway. But in this drought where can hunters find birds? The first place to look is in the north-central part of the state near Jamestown WMA.
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Migration Alert: South Dakota holding 750,000 mallards
Hardy mallards and Canada geese are well known for holding out in the northern reaches of the Central Flyway until bitter cold temps, ice and snow drive them south. Considering that South Dakota has had little in the way of anything resembling winter weather, it should come as no surprise that there are a few birds still hanging around.
Well, actually, a lot of birds.
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Migration Alert: Oklahoma waterfowlers have reason for optimism
Despite a year of extreme drought and high temperatures, the re-opening of Oklahoma's waterfowl season this weekend should be strong throughout many parts of the state.
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Migration Alert: Migration Moves Into the Mid-Plains States
As expected, last weekend's winter storm in the northern Central Flyway finally got ducks on the move.
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Migration Alert: Cold Weather Should Equal Hot Hunting
For the past few weeks, waterfowlers have been lamenting the bipolar nature of pre-peak-migration duck hunting.
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Migration Alert: Cold front may help Nebraska waterfowlers
In Nebraska, the line of "wait until next week" for waterfowlers is becoming an often-made statement. Warm temperatures and decent water conditions to the north of the state have kept the majority of waterfowl away thus far.
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Migration Alert: Ducks Are on the Move…Finally
This time of year, any rumor of a storm can get waterfowlers worked up and ready for new birds to arrive, and it seems the cold fronts that pushed their way across the northern Plains late last week finally got some ducks and geese moving south.
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Migration Alert: Snows, Whitefronts are winging it, but duck data differs
If Sandhill cranes were leading the charge south in the last couple of weeks, then specks and snows are hot on their tail in the eastern half of the Central Flyway.
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Migration Alert: High Winds Should Push Some Waterfowl South
The wind is blowing a sustained 45 miles per hour outside right now, with gusts to 60. It's a day fit for neither man nor beast, but if you believe everything you read on the Internet, a mallard duck can travel 800 miles in eight hours with a 50 mph tailwind.
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Migration Alert: Sandhill Cranes Signal Migration Kick-Off
One of the first signs of autumn’s migration is the trilling call of Sandhill cranes as they wing their way south for the season. Over the past couple of days, I’ve been hearing cranes, and picking their faint outlines out of the clouds.
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Migration Alert: Severe drought is a challenge for Colorado waterfowlers
Colorado waterfowl hunters are facing tough conditions this season due to low water levels. With more ducks and geese moving south with each cold front, some migrants may pass by traditional areas that are currently dry.
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Migration Alert: Colder weather improves Texas waterfowling
Texas waterfowlers have had steady success throughout the state and cold weather should continue to improve numbers.
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Another Verona Success Story
Ducks Unlimited's Verona Wetlands Complex is now providing even more habitat for waterfowl. DU has recently completed another wetland restoration project on Verona, DU's flagship conservation effort in the Rainwater Basin, one of the most important habitats in the Central Flyway.
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Waterfowl Migration Flyways
Banding research helped waterfowl managers map the major migration corridors followed by ducks and geese, which are known today as flyways. For management purposes, North America is divided into four flyways—the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific.
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DU Projects: Central Flyway
The Central Flyway is massive, covering more than one million square miles across North America’s interior. From Canada’s boreal forest and parklands across the Great Plains down to the Texas Gulf Coast, this flyway is home to a large percentage of North America’s ducks and geese. In the U.S. portion of the Central Flyway, DU and its partners have conserved almost 1.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat.
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2010 Waterfowl Forecast
Waterfowl populations remain at high levels overall thanks to favorable breeding habitat conditions
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Southern Great Plains
An overview of Ducks Unlimited's habitat conservation work in the Southern Great Plains priority area.
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Mississippi Alluvial Valley - More Information
More information about DU's Mississippi Alluvial Valley conservation priority area and the region's history.
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