While farmers in Saskatchewan’s northern grain belt were slogging their way through wet, rutted fields last spring, ducks and geese were moving into the province in near-record numbers.
According to figures from 2006 bird population surveys, nesting waterfowl numbers rose dramatically across the province last year as ducks and geese took advantage of ample water, ideal nesting conditions and a significant increase in unseeded acres, particularly in the parkland and northern grassland regions.
According to survey data, breeding duck estimates in Saskatchewan exceeded 10 million birds for only the second time in the past 30 years.
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The number was the 10th highest recorded since formal waterfowl breeding surveys began in Western Canada more than 50 years ago.
Canada goose estimates were the third highest on record and were well above the long-term average.
Annual waterfowl surveys are conducted jointly by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada and other non-governmental conservation groups.
The Saskatchewan survey estimates numbers of all breeding duck species as well as the number of Canada geese that are nesting in an area between the U.S. border and the forest fringe of the grain belt.
The survey also suggested that the increase in nesting waterfowl coincided with a significant rise in the number of spring ponds and potholes.
Survey data showed the number of Saskatchewan ponds containing water in May 2006 exceeded 2.7 million, a 13 percent increase over May 2005 figures and a four-fold increase over May 2004 when just 634,000 ponds were observed.
May pond counts are conducted each year in aerial and ground surveys conducted by Canadian and American wildlife biologists.
The May pond figure from 2006 was 37 percent higher than the 10-year average and 39 percent higher than the long-term survey average, which is derived from 45 years worth of data.
Portions of the southern and southwestern grasslands were the only areas of the province that showed a decrease in the number of prairie waterholes.
“Good habitat conditions in northern grasslands and parkland regions … likely contributed to the near record high estimates,” said Phil Thorpe, a U.S. biologist who wrote the 2006 survey.
“The current moist weather pattern across the central and northern parts of the province, while detrimental to agricultural activities, should continue to benefit waterfowl.”
Despite the improvement in nesting conditions, waterfowl damage claims under the Canada-Saskatchewan wildlife damage compensation program were down last fall.
As of Jan. 10, 858 waterfowl damage claims were filed during the 2006-07 crop year, triggering payments of approximately $2.3 million.
In the 2005-06 crop year, the number of claims exceeded 1,600 and total compensation was $4.8 million.
Stan Benjamin, general manager of Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, said harvest progress, not nesting conditions, is the biggest determinant of waterfowl damage.
“It all depends on what progress harvest has made by the time migratory flocks are flying through Saskatchewan,” Benjamin said.
“(In 2005) there was more crop left out when the waterfowl came through Saskatchewan.”
Officials from the Canadian Wildlife Service said in a normal year, the majority of waterfowl that nest on the Prairies are located in southern Saskatchewan.
