Waterfowl Nest Predation and Management
Shawn Swearingen for SPLIT REED
Cover Photo: Delta Waterfowl
A nesting hen has reason to be afraid of things that go bump in the night. Through predator management across nesting habitats, hopefully, they can rest easier. Predation of eggs comes from the usual lineup of bandits like raccoons but also includes feathered ones like coots, crows, and magpies. Delta Waterfowl has been monitoring and tracking predators over several decades in addition to helping educate hunters on what impacts nesting survival rates, but there is a lot of work still to be done to help nesting waterfowl.
In the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), agriculture and nesting habitat meet. Within that region, there is the draw of predators and scavengers who look for feed from both of these sources. Coinciding with the geographic region is also the timeline of fewer individuals participating in trapping that had for generations assisted in the management of predators. With historically less nesting habitat in the PPR, these predators exact a heavy toll on nesting survival rates. Management efforts are more critical now than ever before. Delta Waterfowl has implemented a Predator Management program across the PPR in the United States and which expanded into Canada in 2000 with 3 to 4 studies since then.
The Predator Management program has a two-prong, coordinated effort between studying nests and the habitat and the predators, tied with the removal and control of the predators. Throughout the PPR there are two types of nesting of waterfowl that are monitored in the program “upland nesting” and “overwater nesting”. Since the program began in 1994, upland nesting has become well understood and thoroughly researched by Delta Waterfowl and scientists. Many of the usual predators of upland nests are raccoons, badgers, skunks, red foxes, coyotes, and even ground squirrels.
Through the program, professional trappers reduce predator numbers that translate into thousands of more waterfowl migrating each fall. “Predator management is about restoring the balance between predators and nesting animals,” states Joel Brice, Chief Conservation Officer for Delta Waterfowl. Predator numbers have risen so high in the PPR against the decline of nesting habitat that the professional trappers are working 7 days a week over 4 months. These upland nesting sites being trapped are in high-density breeding areas that are fragmented sections of the PPR in North Dakota.
With overwater nesting, which typically includes many of the diver duck species, it is those predators with long legs or wings that are to be concerned about and thus leads to more of a mystery of how to increase the nesting success rates. All of the overwater nesting areas in the program are all in study and research at this point. Those that saw the cinnamon phase black bear cubs raiding the nest or the coots and canvasbacks on Delta’s social media pages, were overwater nests being monitored in Manitoba.
So how can you help? Talk to landowners year around and include habitat and predator management if they are interested, not just when it is time to knock on doors when the feed is happening in their fields. Roughly 90% of duck production occurs on private land! Another way to help is by taking an interest in the fall and winter trapping season. Between or after waterfowl seasons is a great way to undertake trapping, do some scouting, and reduce the number of overabundant predators.
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