September 3 rd , 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog We’re back in the air again. Actually, we’ve been at it for a month now counting shorebirds, but we completed the 1 st teal flight of the year on Wednesday, September 2 nd . There was an abundance of blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) along both rivers for the first week of September. We estimated 45,240 blue-wings along the Illinois River Valley (IRV), coming in at 139% above the 10-yr average. The central Mississippi River also had good numbers of blue- wings totaling 9,910 birds, 127% above average for the first week of September. Blue-wing numbers in the IRV were actually quite staggering. The 45,000+ birds witnessed this week was the 9 th highest total in 72 years of surveys and will be the 5 th highest peak count of blue-winged teal since 1948. Hopefully we will enjoy a great opening day of teal season beginning Saturday, September 5 th . Be safe out there and enjoy the Labor Day weekend. For site specific information, please check out our webpage at www.bellrose.org. Stay tuned for more updates next week……. Photo 1. Blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) prefer the very shallow water and sloppy mud usually found along the perimeter of wetlands.

September 3rd, 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog...September 3rd, 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog We’re back in the air again. Actually, we’ve been at it for a

Download PDF Report

Upload
others
View
1
Download
0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

September 3rd, 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog

We’re back in the air again. Actually, we’ve been at it for a month now counting shorebirds, but we completed the 1st teal flight of the year on Wednesday, September 2nd. There was an abundance of blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) along both rivers for the first week of September. We estimated 45,240 blue-wings along the Illinois River Valley (IRV), coming in at 139% above the 10-yr average. The central Mississippi River also had good numbers of blue-wings totaling 9,910 birds, 127% above average for the first week of September. Blue-wing numbers in the IRV were actually quite staggering. The 45,000+ birds witnessed this week was the 9th highest total in 72 years of surveys and will be the 5th highest peak count of blue-winged teal since 1948. Hopefully we will enjoy a great opening day of teal season beginning Saturday, September 5th.

Be safe out there and enjoy the Labor Day weekend. For site specific information, please check out our webpage at www.bellrose.org. Stay tuned for more updates next week…….

Photo 1. Blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) prefer the very shallow water and sloppy mud usually found along the perimeter of wetlands.

http://www.bellrose.org/

Page 2: September 3rd, 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog...September 3rd, 2020 – Aerial Waterfowl Inventory Blog We’re back in the air again. Actually, we’ve been at it for a

Photo 2. Southwesterly view of Chautauqua NWR on September 2, 2020.

Photo 3. Northerly view of the Cuba Island complex at the Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area near Chandlerville, Illinois. The Cuba Island complex is a mix of public and private wetlands. The bottom portion of the photo is known as the Barkhausen Refuge. The central portion is called Otter Lake, while the northern end is Mound Lake. In the distance, you can see Crane Lake in the top left portion of the photo.