Waterfowl
OVERVIEW
Alaska
has more than 174 million acres of wetlands (from Status of Alaska Wetlands Hall et al. 1994), an area larger than Texas.
About 20% of America's waterfowl nest here. Alaska supports nesting populations
of at least 36 species of waterfowl, including many species
and subspecies found nowhere else in the United States, North America, or the
world. For example:
Several
areas in Alaska are particularly important to nesting waterfowl. Some of
these places are:
- The
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta supports one of the largest aggregations of water birds
in the world. Over one million ducks and half a million geese breed here annually.
- Bristol Bay Lowlands: 10% of statewide duck production occurs
in these expansive lowlands adjacent to this world-famous commercial salmon fishing
bay.
- Yukon Flats: 10% of statewide duck production takes place in this small lake
complex within the floodplain of the Yukon River near Alaska's eastern border
with Canada.
- Tanana/Kuskokwim Valley: about 10% of Alaska's
ducks are produced in these rolling black-spruce-carpeted hills outlined by white
spruce and pond-filled valleys
Conservation of Alaska's waterfowl
requires coordination and partnership with ornithologists, natural resource and
land managers, and private landowners in a wide variety of places outside of Alaska
where our birds migrate through or overwinter.
- 50% of Alaska's
waterfowl winter in the Pacific Flyway.
- 25% use the Mississippi
Flyway.
- 10% use the Central Flyway.
- 10% use
the Atlantic Flyway.
- The remaining 5% percent travel to Mexico,
South America, Asia or the Pacific Islands.
Last Updated: March 22, 2010
|