The new study, which was published immediately, used 60 years of group treatment data from the Central and Mississippi Flyways of North America to discover that bird and northern pintail distributions shifted by 60 to several hundred miles and that blue-winged purple spring distributions shifted west and southward.
” This study was in direct response to public concern that bird winter ranges had shifted northward,” said Lisa Webb, Southern Regional Supervisor for the USGS Cooperative Research Units Program and study co-author. ” Over 50 years of work and investment by several birds banders and supporting organizations in the United States and Canada made it possible.”
The study’s findings demonstrated that while the winter ranges of mallards and northern pintail did really move north during the months of December and January, the shifts were minor in comparison to the species ‘ overall geographic distribution during those times. However, there was no evidence of total abandonment of big wintering regions. The authors warn that summarizing shifts across species, months, or subpopulations does conceal coarser-scale patterns that would be crucial to wildlife conservation and population management, despite the general trend of north shifts in wintertime ranges being confirmed.
According to study guide publisher Bram Verheijen,” One of the longest-term neighborhood science efforts in North America provided the data that allowed us to answer this crucial question.” ” We are appreciative to the dozens of waterfowl hunting who reported birds band recoveries,” the statement read.
The authors first compiled duck distribution based on places from more than 350, 000 banded birds recovered during the autumn and winter to determine whether and in what directions the bird species ‘ ranges had changed. Then they compared the bird distribution overlap between the 1960s and the present day.
According to Ducks Unlimited Senior Waterfowl Scientist and research co-author Mike Brasher,” Good science is the basis of dependable waterfowl conservation and management.” Waterfowlers ‘ 60 years of strap reporting have given us the ability to objectively analyze the powerful migration patterns of our ducks. This study is yet another tool that Ducks Unlimited and our partners will use to link our hunter-supported conservation efforts across the United States. Additionally, hunter support may enable us to find more effective ways to enhance the landscape.
Follow-up study is already being conducted to find the causes of the ducks ‘ range shifts, since the study’s objective was to decide whether, where, and how much.
According to USFWS Wildlife Biologist and study co-author Heath Hagy, who is also a project leader for the USFWS Habitat and Population Evaluation Team,” a wide variety of factors, including loss and degradation of breeding wildlife, changing land use, climate change, and ever-evolving agrarian practices are plausible all affecting migration patterns of ducks and geese.” No single factor can be directly at fault for the changes because the causes are complex, vary by species, and manifest differently in different breeding regions.
Waterfowl are both economically and culturally significant, with over 1 million hunters making an estimated$ 700 million a year to local and regional economies. The potential effects of regional shifts in waterfowl distributions in the fall and winter and their subsequent effects on recreational opportunities on the continent’s conservation and management efforts.
Read the study” Long- term changes in autumn- winter harvest distributions vary among duck species, months, and subpopulations” for full details on the range shifts.
