Dry times limit ducks

When primed-to-breed waterfowl swooped over the prairie in spring, potholes were bone dry. A federal survey used to regulate hunting shows that the number of ducks that need water to propagate dipped 11% from last year.

The pothole region, a swath of prairie from Iowa to Alberta, produces more than half of the continent’s waterfowl. But snowmelt in a dry winter percolated into soil, and few ponds occurred in May when surveys by U.S. and Canadian wildlife agencies showed 32.2 million ducks. The findings were released July 12.

Late-season rains didn’t help early-season breeders such as mallards and pintails, says John Devney of Delta Waterfowl in North Dakota.

Experts still expect federal guidelines to allow the longest possible hunting season, though states have the option of shortening their hunts.

California’s Department of Fish and Game is proposing an 86-day season this year. California duck populations, DFG says, have declined 23% to about 413,000 birds.

-- Ashley Powers