Aerial & Ground Crew Blog

As he was fueling our Kodiak N708 plane, he continued with some difficult news. “My mother-in-law died this morning and now my wife is leading the evacuation process, which will now include her mother’s body.” To say Shane was stressed is an understatement. By this writing on June 14th, the Chuckegg fire was approaching 700,000 acres in size and growing, creating a smoke plume visible from space. Fire is a powerful force of nature.

My observer, Steve Olson and I departed from High Level on May 20th, to continue our support of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) in northern Alberta, Eastern British Columbia, and Northwest Territories, never to return to the 27 segments of stratum 77 consumed by smoke and flames. We continued east and north, arriving Fort Chipewyan, a community of 400 established by fur traders in the 1700s. We stay at Jumbo and Lucy’s B & B and Jumbo is no stranger. He has partnered with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for decades, banding ducks and flying with Art Brazda, who, Jumbo remembers, “always used a checklist.” There are many Jumbos out there supporting this incredible survey and the power of these partnerships is essential to our success.

On May 21st, Steve and I departed Fort Chip to survey the Delta (Stratum 20) and although the water levels were very low, the abundance of waterfowl and herds of wood buffalo revealed the power of this freshwater delta to attract wildlife.

Our east-west journey continued, slowly making our way north and bringing us directly over the amazing Alexandra Falls where the Hay River plummets 105 feet, scouring out an impressive mini canyon. A display of power for such a seemingly small river.

A planned maintenance event took us back to Edmonton, and on June 4th, we found ourselves once again in the clear air of the Northwest Territories. As we approached Norman Wells, the mighty Mackenzie River filled our view. The longest river in Canada and North America’s second largest river system called Deh-cho “Big River” by the Sahtu and Slavey First Nations. It dwarfs the hundreds of rivers we cross on this survey and its power to move sediment, trees, and blocks of ice the size of homes evident as we pass overhead.

Our survey timing had been perfect this year and thanks to the maintenance delay, the Arctic lines (strata 13 & 14) were ready to be surveyed as well. Amazing that just a week earlier, it would have likely been a tad too early to survey, a testament to the power of the midnight sun and the responsiveness of the ducks, geese, swans and cranes to the availability of habitat.

Our final day surveying was June 11 and the data will soon be rolled up with those of the other crews, offering this international team of conservationists with the power of knowing. Knowing the long term trends for North America’s waterfowl and the habitats they need to thrive.

I dropped Steve off in Portland, OR on June 12th, where he will prepare for his wedding on June 22 and I will arrive home today, June 14th, just in time to celebrate 35 years of marriage to my understanding wife and best friend. The power of partnership takes many forms.

Satellites captured this photo showing the smoke plume from the northern Alberta wildfires. Photo credit NASA.

On the ramp in Inuvik, NT on June 9, 2019. The power of the midnight sun opened habitats quickly, making our survey timing spot on. Photo credit Brian Lubinski, USFWS.

The caribou season here has been closed for the second year, but the normal evidence of this herd’s movement across the landscape has still not returned as they are forced to navigate around more and more human exploitation of the resources in the area including Hydro-Quebec projects which have created reservoirs over thousands of square miles.

There are now only two aerial crews remaining in Canada, and we and the crew in the Northwest Territories still have several day of work ahead. However, soon our second wave of aerial surveys will begin including the Ungava Peninsula nesting Canada goose survey in the east and the Barrenlands survey in the west.

FWS survey aircraft alongside aircraft from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

Reservoir Caniapiscau in northern Quebec still frozen in June.

Data from the Canada Agriculture and Agri-Foods website indicate that the majority of the crew area experienced precipitation of 85-115% of average between 1 November and 31 March, with several pockets in the southeast somewhat wetter, in the 115-150% range. The northern and western extremes tended to be drier, with a station in the northern part of Stratum 68 reporting 60-85%. April was a wetter than average month for much of the crew area, and May was near normal, so the overall picture is wetter than average, with near normal in the northern and western extremes.

Snow and ice retreat was similar to last year in most areas but, like last year, was late in the northeastern, higher elevation regions of Stratum 68. In general, most streams, beaver ponds and string bogs were full during our survey. Many permanent lakes and reservoirs were also full or even flooding into surrounding forest fringes.

We began the survey on 11 May, two days later than last year, with hopes that it would not negatively affect data on early strata, and allow the phenology to advance in the higher elevations of Stratum 68.

Tree leaf-out was normal when we began surveys in Stratum 53. No ice was observed on the Georgian Bay or in either of the nearby Great Lakes. Many tree species were leafing out in both in Strata 52 and 53 and in lower elevation areas of 56, but not so much as to preclude observation. We had one weather day in Stratum 56 and three in 51, and also flew fewer segments on some days to not get ahead of the phenology, and to give the northern lines in 68 more time to advance. In spite of these efforts, the two northeastern transects in 68 (13 and 14) were still not ready when flown on 25 May, two days later than last year. Transect 14, especially, needed at least another week for thawing of larger water bodies, for pass-through waterfowl species to leave the area (like last year, we observed higher than normal numbers of black scoters, though there were no confirmed surf scoters or white-winged scoters as in 2018), and for nesting waterfowl to complete the pairing process. These two transects are often problematic, since they fall more under the influence of cold northwesterly systems coming off the James Bay and are higher elevation than other transects. Other than these two transects, timing on other transects in 68 and in other strata was appropriate. No broods were noted during the survey.

In summary, habitat was a mix of fair, good and excellent, and is not expected to be a widespread limiting factor for waterfowl production in 2019.

While we did enjoy some nice survey days and far less wind that I’m used to in this crew area, overall I think we join the rest of the population in northeast North America in being tired of wet and cool…or downright cold. I’m ready to get home to Maine and finish planting the garden, work on the house, and enjoy my family’s company again. I think every pilot-biologist would agree that everything at home falls apart the minute you leave and this year was no exception, dealing with the normal mechanical failures and some unwelcome family health issues, but that comes with the territory. We know it and accept it and the happiest among us, historically, have been blessed with loving and very understanding families.

Since our last report, we completed the Newfoundland and Labrador portions of our crew area. It took a couple of days to get to Newfoundland as we dealt with low cloud layers and icing conditions, but once there we were greeted with several great days for flying…better weather than I’ve experienced during my years surveying the island. Overall, habitats across the island were in good condition for breeding waterfowl and survey timing appeared perfect. The exception to the good conditions was the higher elevations on the western side of the island and on the northern peninsula which remained wintery. We sailed through Newfoundland but got stranded at the northern tip of the island in St. Anthony for several days in rain, snow, and fog. The weather days were a chance to catch up on abundant office work and see some of the cool scenery and cultural sites in the area like the L’anse aux Meadows National Historic Site where Leif Ericson and company established the only documented Norse settlement in North America around 1000 AD. It was also a record year for icebergs in the area many of which could be observed from shore. Finally, we enjoyed some great seafood and the good company of our local friends.

When we finally crossed the Strait of Bell Isle into Labrador, we were pleasantly surprised to find habitats in southern Labrador ice-free and in good condition. The survey in Labrador proceeded in fits and starts as we dealt with the low clouds and precipitation brought by a strong low pressure system locked in place on the Quebec-Labrador border. As we progressed further north in Labrador and into higher elevation areas we found winter to be more persistent with ice on lakes and wetlands in some areas and snow still 4 feet deep in many wooded areas, especially on the northeast coast. Overall, however, the best waterfowl breeding habitats in Labrador, which are found in southern (especially southwestern) and central regions, were found to be in good condition for breeding waterfowl.

Its normally a shock to the system to fly home to Maine from Labrador and find spring in full swing and progressing into summer. It certainly has more of a feel of early spring, and less a feel of early summer, this year, but the potatoes are pushing up, my wife is as beautiful as ever, my boy’s and dog glad to see me, and I’m grateful to be home once again. Until next year…

We enjoyed a few days of uncharacteristically good flying weather in Newfoundland.

We enjoyed a few days of uncharacteristically good flying weather in Newfoundland.

Southeast Labrador coastline after crossing Strait of BellIsle from Newfoundland.

Just able to pick up start of survey line in Labrador before fog closed in.

Winter was tenacious in the northern extreme of the Labrador survey area.

Overall conditions across the survey area were extremely dry. Permanent waterbodies were pretty much all that remained on the landscape, no ephemeral or temporary ponds (i.e., sheetwater), no seasonal ponds and very few semi-permanent wetlands. Pintails prefer the shallow sheetwater and seasonal ponds in the grasslands. When they arrive in April and that sight picture isn’t presented to them, they pack up and leave for the northern regions of North America, the boreal forest and Alaska. I’d expect those survey areas to have higher pintail counts this year, since ours is likely down from previous years.

Some people ask me if it gets boring flying the same survey area year after year (this year made 23 consecutive years). I tell them no, it’s different every year. The ducks are different, the wetlands are different, and the weather is different. One learns to savor the calm mornings with a high overcast that facilitates a clear view of the duck’s colors. The plane floating along barely needing any corrections as I gaze out the window and count: “mallards, a pair; mallards, 3 flocked drakes; pintails, a pair…”

I’ve written about this area’s natural wonders, its history, the amazing people who call the north home, wildfires, the stability of habitat and water in the north, and other sights we see along our journey. For this blog instalment I’ve written about some of the random thoughts I have throughout the month, and how they relate to birds, the habitat, and social environments.

We fly low, and we fly slow. This can sometimes lead to warnings from our avionics. A common warning is the aural message in a female voice “DON’T SINK”, describing a Negative Climb Rate Caution. If we hear this message, it is normally as we dip down a hill and approach wetlands (safely, of course). Recently, I was thinking of another “sink”, a habitat sink. Brian and I were down for plane maintenance in Edmonton and there is a pond behind the hotel we stay in. I was walking to the convenience store and passed this pond, noting to myself that even in this suburban setting, a man-made pond provided waterfowl breeding habitat for two pairs each of mallards, American wigeon and American coots, and one pair of scaup, canvasbacks, and red-necked grebes (most of the hens I assumed were on nests). My initial excitement of seeing birds adapt to a non-natural habitat setting didn’t last long, however.

As I returned from the store I took some pictures of the birds, now all visible and in a frenzy on the pond. I very soon learned why. A red fox was working the entire shoreline, searching for nests and eggs. Everything has to eat, but this was nonetheless disappointing. I knew it wouldn’t take long for the lone fox to find every one of those nests around the small pond. It reminded me of “DON’T SINK”, and how it can apply to birds who set up shop and try to breed in habitat sinks like this. Much like how we conduct our surveys, sometimes the sink is an inevitable reality. Habitat is important, and vast grasslands give ground nesting species a chance by reducing the densities of nests and increasing the amount of work a predator has to invest to find every nest and egg.

Are waterfowl doomed? No, not yet. But this is a valuable lesson we must never forget when eliminating large fields or grasslands, only leaving small strips of “nesting habitat” around wetlands. Luckily, the vast majority of the habitat we cover in Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories have not been developed, and ground nesting birds stand a real chance of hatching the nests they’ve laid.

A red fox searched for nests and caused a stir among nesting mallards, scaup, wigeon, canvasback, coots, and red-necked grebes in a man-made suburban pond near the Edmonton International Airport, Canada. Smoke from wildfires produced an interesting sepia-tone lighting

The only days we had down were mandatory days off, waiting for the ground crew to catch up, and one day due to an avionics issue that was quickly fixed. Jim Bredy, retired pilot biologist, texted me and he would bet me $100 that it would not happen again. Am I feeling lucky? Maybe, but sure would hate to lose a bet to Jim! I am sure he has learned a thing or two after flying the survey for the better part of four decades so maybe I will hold off.

Overall habitat conditions were fair to good over much of the survey area. In central portions of the province where agriculture lands dominated the landscape, habitat was in fair with some poor conditions. As we moved north out the Edmonton area towards Slave Lake and Grand Prairie, habitat conditions improved somewhat – especially in the parkland/boreal forest areas such as near Lac La Bich habitat where habitat was good. Again, the more heavily cultivated habitats were relatively dry with little habitat or nesting cover.

Although the official calculations have yet to be completed, it appears that numbers of waterfowl are down from last year when conditions were really good. Still, conditions were generally not all that bad, and I think we can look forward to mostly fair conditions and production out of Alberta. I really enjoyed flying the new survey this year and my observer, Joe Sands, was a pleasure to work and travel with. I have now been lucky enough to fly about half of the crew survey areas and this one was challenging and fun. Happy hunting this fall to everyone and talk to you next year!

Spangler N710 flying over air ground segment

Good habitat near Lac La Biche

Most habitat in this area consists of stock ponds due to dry conditions

Dry cultivated habitat northeast of Grande Prairie

Weather has been a challenge for us, keeping us on the ground several days. We were initially grounded in South Dakota due to a weather system above Rapid City. Then another weather system kept us down in Lewistown, Montana when a wintery mix including snow descended on the town and surrounding mountains.

In between flying transects our conversations range from Ryan’s experiences during his two tours in Iraq as an Army Combat Medic, his falconry, or his work with migratory birds in the Ecological Services Office.

Ryan is a Master Falconer, he has pointed out a number of raptors along the way. We have seen several golden and bald eagles along with ferruginous hawks, northern harriers, Swainson’s hawks, red-tailed hawks, and a single prairie falcon.

One thing we both have been observing during the survey is the beautiful rugged landscape, rich in natural resources. From the Dakotas to Montana, the abundance of wildlife is amazing: pronghorn, white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, bison, grizzly and black bears, and of course ducks and geese. Ryan did not see as many pheasants in the Dakotas as last year.

Whether you are a birder, hiker, nature enthusiast or hunter we hope you are able to enjoy some of these blog posts and our video we have posted, highlighting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s work for the last 50 or so years on this survey.

Our mission is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For me and mine the results of that are a young man enjoying the outdoors, see the photo below.

My 12 year old son’s first duck taken by himself.
A jump shot on the banks of the Mississippi River in Tennessee. A fine dinner. Photo John Rayfield

Flying across the boreal forest, one can see signs of a potentially similar situation in terms of wetland habitat. Scattered in a chessboard fashion are square areas cleared in the landscape that represent exploration sites for mineral and gas deposits. These are particularly evident where I fly on the outskirts of the oil sands region of northern Alberta and where it bleeds into northern Saskatchewan. But it is not limited to just there. Every small village or town where we stop locals talk of this mine or that mine potentially going in or a strike over here that has been discovered.

The boreal forest is a huge area; there is no doubt about it. And a hole in the ground of a few hundred or even thousands of acres will not cause a waterfowler or bird enthusiasts to notice a population change farther south come fall. However, cumulatively it is a death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts scenario. A little wetland loss over here really does not do anything continentally until there is a little more over here and then over there. The tipping point is an unknown end.

The king only has three moves to avoid its fate from the other player. Fortunately, waterfowl and the habitat that supports them and other wetland-dependent species have many stakeholders in the form of state, provincial, and federal agencies and conservation groups playing a similar strategic game with multiple tools to ensure their future.

Exploration pads create a chessboard appearance across the boreal forest. (photo courtesy of Walt Rhodes, USFWS)

Exploration pads create a chessboard appearance across the boreal forest. (photo courtesy of Walt Rhodes, USFWS)

Although there is still water in the grasslands, we only started seeing coots in larger numbers once we were in the parklands, and even then, only on our most northern survey lines. Coots make their floating nests in dense stands of cattails or bulrush and obviously need water (floating being the key word here) to last through the summer. Although the grassland wetlands had water, if we use the Coot Overwater Ovipositioning Tool (COOT) to predict wetland conditions in July, we can forecast water will be too low to non-existent by the time coot broods are hatching. The COOT model would predict fair to poor conditions across most of the grasslands of southern Saskatchewan this year. Wetlands in the aspen parklands remain in good condition for waterfowl (and coot) nesting and brood rearing.

May 2019. Parkland wetland habitat

May 2019. Parkland wetland habitat

May 2019. Parkland wetland habitat

May 2019. Parkland wetland habitat

Our aircraft was also delayed. A part had been returned to the factory and was undergoing refurbishment for several weeks. Luckily our aircraft part made it’s way back and test flights were completed successfully. Next, I departed Florida for Atlanta to meet Dean Demarest, Deputy Regional Chief of Migratory Bird Management for the Southeast Region. Dean will be serving as crew member and observer this year, and once loading gear we were racing weather to make it to Ontario.

By the time we had cleared Customs in Muskoka, the lakes had thawed in western Ontario and our birds were hurrying to catch up We are more than ready to meet them out there!

Departing Florida for Canada.

It meant that I had to go east before I went west to begin the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) in northern Alberta and Northwest Territories, but the potential gains far outweighed the costs. This is because the US Fish & Wildlife Service has been actively integrating remote sensing technology into some of their airplanes in order to more safely, efficiently, and effectively fulfill the Service’s mission. The really cool thing about this particular set of cameras is that they are able to collect photos of sufficient quality to identify colony nesting birds on islands off the coast of Maine at speeds of 110 kts and an altitude of 1,000 feet above the birds. No kidding!

On Wednesday, May 16th, I successfully made my eastern journey from Minnesota in Partenavia N701 with its special cameras, to Bangor, Maine and promptly hopped on a commercial flight home to Minneapolis, beginning my 2,000 mile western journey to my crew area in western Canada.

This “east before west” journey came to successful completion on Friday, May 17th with my arrival in Villeneuve, Alberta in Kodiak amphib N708. I would soon meet up with veteran aerial observer and wildlife biologist, Steve Olson, from Vancouver, Washington and begin counting breeding waterfowl in northern Canada.

Below is a picture taken of Pilot-biologist Brian Lubinski and Wildlife Biologist Steve Olson by Shane Lloyd, Owner and Operator of the FBO Services at the High Level Airport in Northern, Alberta on Monday, May 20th, 2019. The billowing smoke in the background is from an “out of control” wildfire that would cause the emergency evacuation of this small community just hours after our departure. Crazy as it sounds, Steve and I, driven by the mission of our agency, would be forced by smoke and flames to go east before going west, but that story will need to waity until our next blog.

High Level Airport in Northern, Alberta.

This is the first time in the nine years I have been flying the Eastern Dakota’s crew area that I will call all of the habitat excellent. It is a far cry from three years ago when most of the state was rated fair to poor. The ducks have responded well too. Most if not all species were up across the crew area, particularly pintails and shovelers, but all species seemed to have an uptick. That is not unexpected given the conditions.

As we got north of Aberdeen and into North Dakota, things began to dry out, however. Conditions still look pretty good up to Jamestown but there is noticeably less water across the landscape. Farmers working the fields in North Dakota is a tell-tale sign that conditions are drying. We really saw no evidence of activity in the fields in South Dakota. We have still been getting some amount of precipitation, so nothing is going to dry soon. Particularly in South Dakota, production ought to be good as anything that is holding water now will still have water through the brood rearing no doubt. The stark difference can be seen between the two states just in the James River. It is well out of its’ banks from Aberdeen south and well within the banks in North Dakota near Jamestown. Stay tuned for the final blog detailing the conditions in North Dakota.

East of Huron, SD

North of Mitchell, SD

East Central SD

Morning along the James River, central SD

Of course, the answer to that question will surface (as it does each year) in the waterfowl population status report after all crew areas have completed surveying and all data are analyzed. A survey of this magnitude requires significant time and effort for data analysis.

The extreme thirst for knowledge exuded by fellow waterfowl enthusiasts never ceases to amaze me, and I think it is part of what fuels us as scientists to continue to work tirelessly to understand more about the biology and ecology of each species so that we can make the best conservation decisions. This survey provides one piece of the big puzzle. Our crew area is just a portion of that one piece. So, the answer to “how many” will have to wait a few months. Sorry!

With that being said, it (anecdotally, as Stephen Chandler also cautions in his latest blog) appears quite a bit wetter in the strata we have completed, and it seems that I have observed similar or slightly higher numbers of some species, including ring-necked ducks and American black ducks. Again, I have not had a chance to compare numbers to last year, but I get the sense I have observed and counted more. With the wetter landscape and many rivers well outside of their banks, I have observed fewer ducks in drainage ditches among agricultural lands (marginal habitat), as they have moved to higher-quality habitats such as the inundated floodplains and beaver ponds. If the water remains on the landscape, available breeding habitat will remain abundant, and waterfowl production will hopefully reflect the good habitat conditions.

Stronger than usual current in a river along transect. Photo: Garrett Wilkerson, USFWS.

Flooding rivers were abundant along transects in 2019. Some of these houses were not quite high enough to avoid flooding. Photo: Garrett Wilkerson, USFWS

Flooding rivers were abundant along transects in 2019. Photo: Garrett Wilkerson, USFWS

Flooding rivers were abundant along transects in 2019. Photo: Garrett Wilkerson, USFWS

We will start as usual west of Prince Albert, which tends to be warmer sooner, and I’m going to have green vegetables tonight for supper and double-check my bank account later to make sure there are funds to last six months in case of an emergency. Now where did I put my calendar so I can write down my wife’s birthday?The holiday is usually a pretty good benchmark for waterfowl breeding in the crew area where I fly and when you are gone 100 days annually being home for something like Mother’s Day wins brownie points.

Having left Oregon on my usual departure date, I arrived in Saskatoon to meet my third-year observer, James Whitaker from Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. We flew a reconnaissance flight on May 14th to get an idea of migration timing and ice-out conditions. It seems I may have been able to stay home another day and mulch the flower beds.

We flew over to stratum 25, which is just east of the Saskatchewan and Manitoba border south of The Pas, Manitoba. We normally see some snow geese, few thousand, in this area when transitioning it but this year we saw upwards of 30,000. Once in stratum 25, we noticed a few swans still present and the trees were just barely beginning to leaf out. We then cut west to between La Ronge and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, which is more boreal habitat to check on the ice. Montreal Lake was essentially open, which was good, and all of the smaller wetlands were ice-free but there still remained only a tinge of green in the deciduous woods. Then I got a report on Wednesday from farther south in the prairies where I band that the coots had just arrived, reaffirming what appeared to be a slightly late spring.

It’s too early to tell much about habitat conditions. Weather data indicates that the crew area seemed to have a drier-than-normal winter in terms of precipitation but April was slightly above average. Winter temperatures were near normal with the exception of February, which was brutally cold.

Mail has crossed the oceans on ships since time immemorial. In 1860-61, the Pony Express lived an amazingly short but romanticized life before being replaced by the telegraph for very important news. Of course, Uncle Ed and Aunt Jo in New York still wanted to know what was happening with their cousins in San Francisco, and the transcontinental trains began transporting those ten-page letters in the latter 1800s. The early 1900s saw the invention of powered flight, and less than a decade after Orville and Wilbur flew at Kitty Hawk, mail began to be delivered by airplane.

To encourage this, the Postal Service began developing airmail routes across the US. Because the maps the pilots had were quite rudimentary and navigation was solely by landmarks on the ground (if a pilot got lost, the standard technique was to land in a farmer’s field to ask directions and buy a gallon or two of gas), towers with acetylene-powered rotating beacons were constructed to guide the pilot. When the pilot flew near the beacon, he would see a concrete arrow on the ground that would point the direction to the next station, only 3-5 miles away on some of the early routes. During the 1910s and ‘20s the system grew rapidly in size and quality, featuring more routes to more cities, stronger beacons, and more emergency airfields. Yet in the early 1930s the system was defunded and abandoned, seemingly overnight. The beacons were repurposed and the towers torn down and sold for scrap. Why? In essence, because technological advances rendered the system costly and obsolete. Radio-based navigational aids combined with flight instruments allowed pilots to fly in straighter lines and through the clouds. I suspect we are in a similar situation today with our aerial surveys.

The Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (BPOP for short) has been going in some form for over 70 years, and while we have seen incremental improvements in our aircraft, navigational systems, statistical modeling and safety equipment (before flight helmets, some really used to wear cowboy hats), we still collect the raw data in almost the same way as we did right after World War II – two people, flying at 200 feet above the ground, looking out the window and counting what we see.

Waterfowl management today is a mature and integrated system of statutes, regulations, data collection and analysis by professional biologists and managers. Yet in some windowless basement office on some college campus somewhere, I suspect there is a next generation that is exploring the replacement of biologists counting birds from an airplane with data collected and uploaded to citizen science websites, correlating decades of BPOP habitat data with satellite imagery, and developing big data techniques that will provide us the same conservation results at a fraction of the cost.

Until then, what we’ve seen out the window in southern Ontario and Quebec in the early part of the survey indicates excellent habitat conditions for this year’s crop of birds. I should probably tweet that before I forget.

This year, we were fortunate to progress quickly through Maine and the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) since this spring had more rain. I’ve heard some acquaintances in Maine complain about a terrible “mud season” and I witnessed several stuck pieces of farm equipment in the potato fields of northern Maine and Prince Edward Island. Fortunately, flooding is minimal. Habitat looks good so far for both early and late nesters. Timing of our survey also looks good with most observations either recorded as pairs or single birds and few large groups of migrants observed. These are good indications that we’re surveying primarily sedentary breeding pairs that are in the egg-laying or early incubation stage. This improves the accuracy of the count and estimates. Phenology is right on cue, with red maples and aspen just starting to flower.

Kodiak N769 (our plane) is undergoing routine maintenance in Bangor as I type this note, but Mark and I hope to be headed for Stephenville, Newfoundland in a couple of days. This break worked to our advantage since spring is delayed in both Newfoundland and Labrador. Recent rain and warmer temperatures are helping with “ice out” at higher elevations in both areas. Timing of our survey should be good by the time we arrive. Stay tuned for a report from the north.

Red cliffs and fields of western Prince Edward Island.

East coast of Prince Edward Island, lining up for a transect.

On transect in southern Nova Scotia.

Dropping down off the Cape Breton Highlands near Sydney, Nova Scotia.

The Quest Kodiak’s IFR (instrument flight rules)
capabilities prove quite useful in relocating among survey areas, given the notoriously poor weather in this Maritime crew area – as long as you can stay out of icing conditions.

Wetland availability and emergent cover conditions are the primary factors that determine the number and diversity of breeding waterfowl that will settle in a region. During dry spells like the one we are currently observing seasonal wetlands remain dry, limiting the amount of available habitat. In this case, fewer ponds means there will be fewer ducks breeding in the area due to the loss of suitable habitat. Waterfowl are highly adaptable and will seek quality breeding habitat. In some cases, they choose stay south, or like the well documented case of the northern pintail they will jump the prairies for suitable habitat in the north.

The birds that do choose to stay and breed in the dry prairie may face other challenges as well. During dry spells we often see birds clustered on the ponds that remain. Competition may be stiff and if the area continues to dry and doesn’t receive any spring rain brooding habitat may become be limited. Also, for those located in areas of agricultural production, which is the majority of the prairies, early nesting species may be affected by earlier agricultural activities (discing and plowing) that often occurs around wetland areas.

The wet-dry cycles are normal in the prairies and, in fact, necessary to maintaining the vitality of this ecosystem. The hydrology of the prairie-pothole- region is quite sensitive to weather and climatic factors. Variables related to hydrology that also affect waterfowl production include wetland hydro-period (wet-dry cycle), ratio of emergent plant cover to open water (nesting habitat), species composition (food resources), and water permanence class (i.e. temporary, seasonal, and semi-permanent wetlands).

This is definitely a dry year, and while I said it last year, 2019 is now the driest I have seen it since I started flying the crew area, about 7 years ago (not very long). When I started flying the survey we were in a wet cycle and ponds and rivers were flooding. Now I get to experience a dry cycle. I will say that most everyone around here is hoping for some late spring/early summer rains. I’m pretty sure the ducks could use it! I’ll be in touch again soon as we head north into areas of mixed parkland and forest.

Jeff Drahota counting ducks in the Yorkton, SK area. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Dry salt flat wetlands near Etters Beach, SK. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

This semi-permanent to the west of Moose Mountain will be dry in a few weeks without some substantial rain events. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Parkland wetlands are looking dry near Seer and Day Bird Lake, SK. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Old homestead southeast of Francis, SK. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahot, USFWS

We knew we would find water and birds somewhere, and we were right. We moved north out of prairie habitats over the last week, and are now finding a lot of ducks and water in the parklands of Stratum 26. There appears to be notable increases in several species including canvasbacks and redheads, as well as green-winged teal. In general, our pond counts have increased as well. It looks like some these parkland habitats will be critical to a large number of ducks in Alberta this year. As we move farther north the bigger picture will become clearer.

Down Day Work
Down days are part of the WBPHS for a variety of reasons: weather, logistics, and airplane maintenance to name a few. Usually days on the ground are good for doing laundry (critical), and working on other aspects of being a USFWS biologist. In my case, my normal job is working as a waterfowl biologist for the Pacific Region, so I am taking some time to catch up on a few outstanding projects, make progress on some papers I have been working on, and of course, write this blog. Thanks to my colleague Steve Olson who will soon be heading to the Northwest Territories to conduct one of the northern portions of this survey, and who had some extra labels available, I even took a minute to update the labels for my data entry “hot keys,” so I have a fancy looking new keyboard. These “hot keys” save hours of data entry time each year for each survey participant and facilitate accurate data entry by reducing the probability of typos.

Finally, each year I set a personal goal of reading two books a month. I often fall behind, so WBPHS evenings can be a good opportunity to catch up on some reading and ignore the banality of television (with the exception of the Portland Trail Blazers playoff run, or Yankee games).

Author’s Note
This is my sixth year flying the South-Central Alberta portion of the WBPHS. I spent the last 5 years flying with Jim Bredy who retired last summer after working for nearly four decades as a pilot biologist. At this moment Jim’s location is unknown, although I expect he is somewhere in Wyoming trying to call in a gobbler, or enjoying another well-deserved 2-hour nap!

Southern Alberta better in stratum 26
Southern Alberta better conditions near Edmonton than we found to the south.

Southern Alberta parklands stratum 27
Southern Alberta better conditions in the park lands of stratum 27.

Southern Alberta dry in stratum 28
Southern Alberta habitat is dry in the northeast portion of Stratum 28.

Southern Alberta computer hot keys
Sands hot keys on computer for transcribing data.

I did my first survey in 2013, and the landscape was covered in water, with every pond filled to capacity and beyond (at least the ones that hadn’t been drained). Two years ago in 2017, I drove 100 miles in the southern part of the province, only to find a handful of ponds. This year it’s the same story, a little bit drier.

We have completed seven days of surveying from the southern border to just north of Regina. Habitat conditions have varied from extremely poor to somewhat decent. We have completed many survey segments where less than 10% of the wetland basins were wet. The Missouri Coteau region in southern Saskatchewan. is even beginning to dry out. This region is the backbone of duck production in the southern part of the province. In my seven years of surveying here, it has remained fairly wet, but over the last two years, the number of dry wetlands continue to increase. It seems that we may finally be entering, or already in, a dry cycle on the Saskatchewan prairies.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Where there is water, there are ducks. We have encountered many pairs of mallard, gadwall, and northern shoveler. These species have been present on almost every wetland. It seems that we’ve seen fewer blue-winged teal and pintail to this point, but we more or less expected this. The teal could’ve been short stopped in the Dakotas due to above average moisture, and we most likely had an over flight of pintails due to the dry conditions here in Saskatchewan. Of course, this is all anecdotal, as I haven’t compared any of our counts to previous years. We will begin surveying the parkland region in the coming days. This is the core area for mallard reproduction in this province, and it has been wet for many years. I am very interested to see how the conditions are there. Hopefully, we start seeing good numbers of redhead and canvasback in this region, and continue to see mallards and the others as well. Stay tuned.

Southern Saskatchewan, dry wetlands. One of many semi-permanent wetlands on the way out for this year.

What prairie wetlands use to look like. You can see this one still has water in it. When wetlands are farmed, their basins are broken up and they dry up faster than unbroken wetlands. Photo Credit, P. Thorpe, USFWS

Where the bison roam Grasslands NP in southern Saskatchewan. Photo Credit, P. Thorpe, USFWS

White Pelican colony This pelican colony has slowly taken over the island. Photo Credit, P. Thorpe, USFWS

The only areas currently retaining water are those in the higher elevations (hills) which tend to have more permanent waterbodies. This is unfortunate as there are not quite as many ducks around due to the lack of suitable habitat. Currently, all the waterfowl species are present and are either paired up or already nesting. It will be interesting to see how spring unfolds and we’ll be in touch again soon with an update on survey progress.

Dry conditions near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS.

Discing down emergent vegetation around wetlands. This can lead to nest loss for early nesting duck species. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Tractor farming around wetland footprints. Photo credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Dry conditions continue into Saskatchewan. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

Dry conditions, but this is an example of some of the best wetland habitat we’ve flown over so far. Photo Credit: Jeff Drahota, USFWS

With a more protracted snow melt and ice out compared to last year, flooding was less impactful. As of now, eastern Newfoundland has opened up, while western and northern Newfoundland and Labrador remain locked in winter. We will have a delay for aircraft maintenance this year before proceeding from the Maritimes to Newfoundland so, hopefully, conditions will be perfect when we arrive. In general, wetland conditions across the crew area are expected to be good to excellent. Hopefully we won’t see persistence of winter in Labrador like we did in 2018 which almost certainly impacted waterfowl production from that region.

My observer this year is John Bidwell. John is a retired USFWS pilot-biologist who actually surveyed this region during the late 1990s and 2000s. John’s experience as an aerial waterfowl observer and a pilot-biologist with first-hand knowledge about this region will be a great asset this spring. As always, we’ll spend the first couple of days reviewing safety checklists, safety gear, aircraft operations, crew communications and coordination, and data collection and processing steps. We’ll conduct several refresher and training flights to practice cockpit resource management and safety communications and procedures, as well as to get used to the survey operational protocols again.

We’ll report back mid-way through the survey and once we have Maine and the Maritimes completed and before heading to Newfoundland and Labrador to complete the survey. Our survey aircraft will require a 100hr inspection in Bangor after completing the southern portion of our crew area. We’ll be grounded a few days for that inspection so it will be a good chance to check in.

Wetlands in southwestern Maine are in good to excellent condition.

Many wetlands in Maine are formed or enhanced by the activities of beavers.

Unusually calm air in the mountains of western Maine.

Still some icing hanging on in the Rangeley area. We expect to encounter more in northern Maine.

Although I know a part of him still wants to be working on the survey he has been informing me that he is enjoying fishing and taking daily 2 hour naps – so something tells me he’s OK with not flying this year. Many thanks to him for passing on all of his notes that will really help me with this new survey area.

The plane 100 hour inspection was done just in time for the survey and I was able to complete a return to service flight the day before I left. On the way up, I noticed that Montana has a lot of water so conditions should be better than last year where nesting cover can be found. The following day Joe and I headed out to the field to conduct some on the ground surveys to determine where we were at in the breeding phenology. The mallard, Northern shoveler, gadwall, widgeon and pintail look fairly well established on their breeding territories, but the blue-winged and green-winged teal had not shown up in appreciable numbers yet. However, history has taught us that if we wait too long for the teal to show up, we will be behind for breeding mallards, so we had better get started. Stay tuned as we work out survey lines to the north.

Southern Alberta ground check

View of habitat south of lethbridge

What stood out as much as anything was the amount of water across the landscape. Most of South Dakota and a good portion of North Dakota were in the storm track for most of the past winter and snow was not missing. A large blizzard hit much of the crew area in March and was followed by another large blizzard in April. They were surrounded by many more snow events throughout the winter as well as some heavy spring rains. I also had the opportunity to view much of the prairie pothole region this spring as I flew bald eagle surveys in Minnesota and conservation easement enforcement flights in North Dakota and Montana throughout April.

Water and full wetlands are not in short supply this year, this I can say. It is still snowing and raining across most of South Dakota. It is a late spring to say the least. Since the middle of January, much of the region has been experiencing temperatures 30 or more degrees below average and precipitation is well above average. The James River, Red River and most others are well outside their banks. Much of southeast South Dakota has experienced severe flooding. I flew to Mitchell from Bismarck on Saturday, May 4th and I have not seen the landscape look like this in the 10 years I have been flying the Eastern Dakotas. I was able to fly a short reconnaissance flight Sunday morning, May 5th to observe the breeding phenology, but that was cut short when my alternator failed. All species were present. It did appear however that we were a little early as we encountered some small groups of drake mallards and light on blue-winged teal. We also observed many divers and coots on the southernmost lines we fly that we do not normally observe there. So I do not believe the two days we lost getting the alternator replaced and the day of rain we are sitting through today were of much consequence.

This current storm system should move through tonight and we may be able to commence the Eastern Dakotas survey in the morning. It will be an interesting year to say the least. I’d expect to see the habitat conditions to look better than they have in years. I’s also expect that our ground crew may have some difficult days navigating section roads, many of which have closed sections, are very muddy and some underwater! I’m hoping they do not need tow services! Stay tuned for what we see as we get underway.

Conditionson 13 April near Aberdeen

Conditon near Jamestown on 19 April

Conditons in NE South Dakoata 19 April

Red River near Fargo

James River 4 May 19

We saw several species (Northern pintail, gadwall, mallard, blue-winged teal etc.). The majority of the birds were paired. Our survey starts tomorrow, and fortunately the forecast calls for good weather.

I am the Resident Agent in Charge/Pilot for FWS Office of Law Enforcement (Tennessee and Kentucky). Along with my law enforcement management duties I assist other programs flying biological surveys which are primarily waterfowl surveys. I have had the opportunity to assist our Migratory Bird Surveys Branch flying two Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Surveys in the past, these surveys are both challenging and rewarding. I am looking forward to the 2019 survey.

This year I am joined by Ryan Anthony. Ryan is a wildlife biologist based out of the Ecological Services Field Office in Illinois. He works on eagles and other migratory birds, including waterfowl banding on the Mississippi River. This is the third year Ryan has taken part in this survey. We are both looking forward to getting started.