In this post we discuss what birds (waterfowl) see as it relates to habitat selection and hunting. There is growing belief in the wildlife management professional community that waterfowl are keying in on specific areas of intensively managed wetlands (See distrubution map). These wetland complexes range from completely natural to highly developed. This has raised concern in some historical wintering areas where bird abundance is declining overall. The cause of this is likely due to many factors, but simply: food, cover, water, rest (in inverse order of importance). Of course we know birds have to ability to imprint on locations and have many adaptations for navigation. So that explains how a trend can be set, or in this a migration route to change... Based on that reasoning, ducks have the ability to locate food, cover, water, and rest, then return to annually. Possibly their strongest sense is the ability to imprint and navigate.
So what does a duck see? And how does that relate to quality habitat. The better question is what do DUCKS see? Migrating waterfowl are able to see: other waterfowl, water, vegetation type, and light. I believe it is very likely that migrating waterfowl have an excellent ability to differentiate vegetation and water depths. As hunters know, ducks have an excellent ability to differentiate decoys from live ducks. I believe it is safe to assume that ducks have the ability to grade habitat quality as it relates to their current biological needs. Wetland complexes which meet these needs are more likely to gather influxes of migrating waterfowl. Thus these complexes are more likely to imprint significant populations of waterfowl.
High quality habitat is essential for good waterfowl hunting throughout the seasons and years. Because no two seasons are alike, there is a need to imprint waterfowl to insure they return during migration. If you would like more information on how to create habitat or just discuss the trends of waterfowl management as it relates to your hunting property. Reach out to us to schedule a meeting. Build quality habitat, imprint more ducks!
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