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Central Valley Waterfowl

 
Release of radiotagged pintails at Llano Seco NWR.
Changing agricultural practices and conservation programs such as the Central Valley Joint Venture (CVJV) have altered the landscape of the Central Valley of California, one of the most important waterfowl wintering areas in the world.  Habitat goals of the CVJV and other conservation programs require up-to-date knowledge of ecology of waterfowl and their habitats.  Management on many lands has changed, including flooding rather than burning rice stubble, wetland restoration and enhancement and establishment of new National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), California Wildlife Areas (WAs), and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) preserves.  The response of waterfowl to these changes is unknown and managers of the CVJV and other habitat conservation efforts need this information so their future efforts provide optimum benefit to the waterfowl resource and those who enjoy it. This multi-phase project has and is using a variety of methods during 1997-present to assess impacts of the CVJV and other managment actions on waterfowl and their habitats and aid habitat conservation planning.  This works includes: 1) Aerial surveys to assess wintering waterfowl distribution , 2) Radiotelemetry to describe Identify wintering northern pintail, mallard and white-fronted goose movement patterns and use of specific feeding and roosting sites, 3) Radiotelemetry to determine if wintering northern pintails, mallards and white-fronted geese have changed their use of wetland and agricultural habitat types in the Central Valley during the last decade,  4) Radiotelemetry to evaluate impacts of landscape changes on survival of wintering waterfowl, 5) Remote sensing and surveys to measure changes in waterfowl habitat availability and distribution, and 6) Targeted collections and hunter check station sampling to evaluate impacts of landscape changes on body condition of wintering waterfowl.


USGS Contact For This Project
Joseph Fleskes
joe_fleskes@usgs.gov
(530) 669-5074
Dixon Field Station
800 Business Park Drive, Suite D
Dixon, CA 95620
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Miller, M.R. 1986. Northern pintail body condition during wet and dry winters in the Sacramento Valley, California. J. Wildl. Manage. 50(2):189-198. [Journal_Article]
Miller, M.R., and G.D. Wylie. 1996. Preliminary estimate of rice present in strip-harvested fields in the Sacramento Valley, California. California Fish and Game 82(4): 187-191. [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J. P., M. L. Casazza, D. S. Gilmer, J. G. Mensik, M. R. Miller, D.O. Orthmeyer, J. Y. Takekawa, J. L. Yee and D. R. Yparraguirre. 2001. Waterfowl ecology relative to recent habitat changes in the Central Valley of California. The Wildlife Society-The Western Section. Feb. 2001. Sacramento, CA. [Abstract]
Fleskes, J.P., R. L. Jarvis, and D. S. Gilmer. 2002. Distribution and movements of female northern pintails radiotagged in San Joaquin Valley, California. Journal of Wildlife Management 66(1):138-152. [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, Joseph P. 2002. Tulare Basin Waterfowl and Central Valley Duck Hunters. California Waterfowl, Dec 2002/Jan 2003:12-13. [Popular_Publication]
Fleskes, Joseph P., 2003. Northern pintail evening flight paths relative to urbanization and wetlands in the Grassland Ecological Area, California. The Wildlife Society-Western Section. Irvine, California. Poster and published abstract. [Poster]
Petrie, M., C. Hickey, J. Eadie, J. Fleskes, M. Miller, L. Naylor, R. Shaffer, D. Smith, and G. Yarris. November 2003. Integrating management objectives for waterfowl and shorebirds in the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture. 3rd North American Duck Symposium. Sacramento, CA. [Presentation_with_Abstract]
Fleskes, J. P., M. L. Casazza, M. R. Miller, J. Y. Takekawa, J. L. Yee, D.O. Orthmeyer, J. G. Mensik, and D. R. Yparraguirre. November 2003. Impacts of landscape changes on waterfowl wintering in the Central Valley of California. 3rd North American Duck Symposium.Sacramento, CA. [Presentation_with_Abstract]
Fleskes, J. P. 2004. Pintail north-south flight paths in the Grassland Ecological Area. 2002/2003 Transactions of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society 38/39:22-26 [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J. P., D. S. Gilmer, and R. L. Jarvis. 2004. Habitat selection by female northern pintails wintering in the Grassland Ecological Area, California. California Fish and Game 90:13-28. [Journal_Article]
Moss, R., S. Blumenshine and J. Fleskes. 2004. Secondary production and biomass of aquatic insects in flooded agricultural fields of the southern San Joaquin Valley, California. 25th Annual Central California Research Symposium. April 2004. Fresno, California. (Poster and published abstract). [Poster_with_Abstract]
Ackerman, JT, JY Takekawa, DL Orthmeyer, JP Fleskes, JL Yee, and KL Kruse. 2005. Response of greater white-fronted geese to the Central Valley Joint Venture: changes in wintering ecology over a decade. 11th North American Arctic Goose Conference and Workshop, Reno, Nevada, January 5–8. [Presentation]
Ackerman, JT, JY Takekawa, JP Fleskes, and DL Orthmeyer. 2005. Decade of change: a tracking study shows how white-fronted geese responded to recent habitat changes in the Central Valley. California Waterfowl, April/May 2005: 16–17 & 58. [Popular_Publication]
Ackerman, JT, JY Takekawa, JP Fleskes, and DL Orthmeyer. 2005. White-fronted geese respond well to Joint Venture's habitat improvements. Valley Ventures, Spring 2005: 10-13. [Popular_Publication]
Ackerman, JT, JY Takekawa, DL Orthmeyer, JP Fleskes, JL Yee, and KL Kruse. 2006. Spatial use by wintering greater white-fronted geese relative to a decade of habitat change in California's Central Valley. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:965-976. [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J. P., D. S. Gilmer, and R. L. Jarvis. 2005. Pintail distribution and selection of marsh types at Mendota Wildlife Area during fall and winter. California Fish and Game 91(4): 270-285. [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J. P., W. M. Perry, K. L. Petrik, R. Spell, and F. Reid. 2005. Change in area of winter-flooded and dry rice in the northern Central Valley of California determined by satellite imagery. California Fish and Game 91(3): 207-215. [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J.P., J.L. Yee, M.L. Casazza, M.R. Miller, J.Y. Takekawa, and D.L. Orthmeyer. 2005. Waterfowl distribution, movements, and habitat use relative to recent habitat changes in the Central Valley of California: A cooperative project to investigate impacts of the Central Valley Joint Venture and changing agricultural practices on the ecology of wintering waterfowl. Final Report. U.S. Geological Survey-Western Ecological Research Center, Dixon Field Station, Dixon, California. [Technical_Report]
Moss, R., S. Blumenshine and J. Fleskes. 2006. Aquatic insects and waste agricultural seeds in post-harvest flooded agricultural fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California. Final Report. Fresno State University and U.S. Geological Survey, Dixon, California. 30 pp. [Technical_Report]
Fleskes, J. P., J. L. Yee, G. S. Yarris, M. R. Miller, and M. L. Casazza. 2007. Pintail and mallard survival in California relative to habitat, abundance, and hunting. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:2238-2248. [Journal_Article]

Moss, R. C., S. C. Blumenshine, J. L. Yee, and J. P. Fleskes. 2009. Emergent insect production in post-harvest flooded agricultural fields used by waterbirds. Wetlands 29:875-883. [Journal Article]

 [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, JP, DA Skalos, MA Farinha. 2012. Bird use of fields treated post-harvest with two types of flooding in Tulare Basin, California. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 7(2): e31471. doi: 10.3996/092011-JFWM-056 [Journal_Article]
Fleskes, J. P.  2012. Wetlands of the Central Valley and Klamath Basin.  Chapter 25.  Pages 357-370 in D. Batzer and A. Baldwin, editors, Wetland Habitats of North America: Ecology and Conservation Concerns.  University of California Press, Berkeley, California.  (Invited College Textbook Chapter). [Book_Chapter]
Buler, JJ, LA Randall, JP Fleskes, WC BarrowJr, T Bogart, D Kluver. 2012. Mapping wintering waterfowl distributions using weather surveillance radar. PLoS ONE 7(7): e41571. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041571 [Journal_Article]
Skalos, D. A., J. M. Eadie, D. Yparraguirre, S. Oldenburger, M. Weaver, C. Ely, and J. P. Fleskes. 2011. Changes in greater white-fronted goose ecology. California Waterfowl 38(4): 33-35. [Journal_Article]


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