Waterfowl Species Assessment (PDF)
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WATERFOWL ASSESSMENT January 19, 2005 FINAL Andrew Weik Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Wildlife Division Wildlife Resource Assessment Section 650 State Street Bangor, Maine 04401 WATERFOWL ASSESSMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 10 NATURAL HISTORY..................................................................................................... 12 Taxonomy........................................................................................................... 12 Life History.......................................................................................................... 12 Breeding Ecology ............................................................................................... 13 Wintering and Migration...................................................................................... 16 MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................ 18 Regulatory Authority ........................................................................................... 18 Past Goals and Objectives ................................................................................. 18 Past and Current Management........................................................................... 22 Harvest Management ......................................................................................... 25 • Unretrieved Kill or Crippling Loss............................................................. 25 • Harvest Potential ..................................................................................... 28 • Species and Sex-specific Regulations..................................................... 29 • Hunting Vulnerability and Migration Chronology ...................................... 31 • Hunting Zones and Season Splits............................................................ 32 • Harvest Regulations and Season Frameworks........................................ 33 • Adaptive Harvest Management................................................................ 34 • Extended Framework Dates .................................................................... 35 • Recent Technological Changes in Hunting.............................................. 36 • Banding.................................................................................................... 37 HABITAT ASSESSMENT.............................................................................................. 38 Past Habitat........................................................................................................ 38 Current Habitat ................................................................................................... 41 • Breeding and Migrating Habitat ............................................................... 42 • Migrating and Wintering Habitat............................................................... 43 Habitat Projection ............................................................................................... 43 POPULATION ASSESSMENT...................................................................................... 45 Past Population .................................................................................................. 45 Current Population.............................................................................................. 46 • USFWS Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey...................................... 46 • BDJV Helicopter Plot Survey ................................................................... 47 • Waterfowl Breeding and Habitat Survey .................................................. 47 • Breeding Bird Survey............................................................................... 48 • MDIFW Brood Counts.............................................................................. 48 • Midwinter Waterfowl Survey .................................................................... 48 • Sea Duck Survey ..................................................................................... 49 2 WATERFOWL ASSESSMENT Population Projection.......................................................................................... 49 Limiting Factors .................................................................................................. 49 • Avian and Mammalian Predators............................................................. 50 • Disease.................................................................................................... 59 • Human Disturbance ................................................................................. 50 • Habitat Quantity and Quality .................................................................... 50 • Weather ................................................................................................... 52 • Nest Sites ................................................................................................ 52 • Hunting .................................................................................................... 52 • Lead Poisoning ........................................................................................ 53 USE AND DEMAND ASSESSMENT ............................................................................ 56 Trends in Hunting Seasons, Hunter Numbers, and Hunting Activity................... 56 • Harvest Information Program................................................................... 58 • Youth Waterfowl Day ............................................................................... 58 • Demographic and Economic Analysis of Waterfowl Hunting ................... 59 • Demographic and Economic Analysis of Birding ..................................... 60 Use and Demand Projections............................................................................. 62 SPECIES PROFILES.................................................................................................... 63 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................. 118 LITERATURE CITED .................................................................................................. 125 3 WATERFOWL ASSESSMENT LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Phylogenetic groupings, common names, and scientific names of waterfowl that occur in Maine................................................. 138 Table 2. Seasonal abundance and distribution of waterfowl in Maine ................. 139 Table 3. Maine breeding waterfowl nest site preference...................................... 140 Table 4. Waterfowl hunter statistics for Maine and the Atlantic Flyway, 1961-2001.............................................................................................. 141 Table 5. Number and area of high and moderate value Waterfowl and Wadingbird Habitat (WWH) by Wildlife Management District (WMD) in Maine, 2004........................................................................... 143 Table 6. Black duck breeding and migrating habitat area estimations by Wildlife Management District (WMD) in Maine, 2004........................ 144 Table 7. Wood duck breeding habitat area estimations by Wildlife Management District (WMD) in Maine, 2004 ......................................... 145 Table 8. Scaup migration and wintering habitat area estimations by Wildlife Management District (WMD) in Maine, 2004............................. 146 Table 9. Scoter wintering habitat area estimations by Wildlife Management District (WMD) in Maine, 2004 ......................................... 147 Table 10. Dabbling duck breeding population indices for Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service breeding survey strata 62-67), 1996-2003............................................. 148 Table 11. Diving duck breeding population indices for Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service breeding survey strata 62-67), 1996-2003............................................. 149 Table 12. Canada goose breeding population indices for Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service breeding survey strata 62-67), 1996-2003 ................................ 149 Table 13. Breeding population estimates (total indicated pairs/503,800 km2) from the Black Duck Joint Venture Helicopter Survey in Québec, 1990-2003 ............................................................................... 150 4 WATERFOWL ASSESSMENT Table 14. Breeding population estimates of Atlantic population of Canada Goose (number of indicated pairs / 350,000 km2; Strata 3 and 4) and North Atlantic population of Canada Goose (number of indicated pairs / 105 3000 km2; Stratum 2) from the Black Duck Joint Venture survey in Québec, 1990- 2003....................................................................................................... 151 Table 15. Breeding population estimates and standard errors (in thousands) for the 10 most abundant species of ducks in the eastern survey area (Eastern Ontario, Québec, Newfoundland, Labrador, the Maritimes, and Maine), 1990- 2003....................................................................................................... 151 Table 16. Mean number of broods and proportion of total, by species, during brood counts on 39 waterfowl production index areas in Maine during 1966-76, 1980-84, 1986-90, 1991-95, 1996- 2000, 2002............................................................................................