THE WEATHER

January 2000 began with two weeks of above normal temperatures across the state, with high temperatures in the 40s and 50s through 12 Jan. Cold weather hit with a vengeance on the 13^th, with temperatures during the count period generally below freezing, including several days with highs in the single digits. The one mild day was the target date of 16 Jan with highs in the 30s and 40s. As a result of this weather pattern, many small inland waters were frozen, whereas larger lakes and coastal bays remained open to waterfowl use. Snowfall during January was meager except in the usual snow belt areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario through the middle of the count period, when considerable amounts fell in most areas around 20 Jan.

THE COUNT

The grand total of 382,516 (Table 1) was up 3.0 percent from 1999, and 45.1 percent above the 27-year (1973-1999) average of 263,480. Counts of all species listed in Table 2 showed losses versus gains over 1999 to be 16 to 5.

Comparing 2000 to 1999 FWC figures (Table 2), the top ten species showed a 7 to 3 split in favor of decreases. Canada Goose (+51%) and Common Merganser (+26%) showed large increases, while Brant (-60%), scaup (both species; -36%), Long-tailed Duck (- 44%), and Ruddy Duck (-42%) showed large declines.

When comparing 2000 FWC figures with the 27-year (1973-1999) average (Table 3), there is a 9 to 4 split in favor of decreases. The overall total in Table 3 shows a large percentage increase over the long-term average with Canada Goose contributing hugely to this. It is encouraging that Common Merganser numbers have shown an increase over 1999, while it was not encouraging that scaup numbers decreased.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service midwinter waterfowl inventory report (Serie and Raftovich 2000) showed total waterfowl numbers in the Atlantic Flyway (Maine to Florida) down 11.9% from 1999, but 5.9% above the 10-year (1990-1999) average. Flyway counts indicated substantial declines from 1999 for many species, including Canada Goose (-16%), Mute Swan (-17%) Am. Black Duck (-18%), Mallard (-17%), Canvasback (-15%), scoters (- 23%), Long-tailed Duck (-60%), Common Goldeneye (-26%), mergansers (-27%) and Ruddy Duck (-17%), whereas Snow Goose (+24%) ,Redhead (+17%), Ring-necked Duck (+53%), and Bufflehead (+19%) increased substantially. However, most of these species were within ±15% of their 10-year averages, except Snow Goose (+70%). Canada Goose (+20%) scaup (-28%), scoters (-64%), Bufflehead (+33%), and Ruddy Duck (+70%). Concern about declines in scaup and sea duck populations have resulted in more restrictive bag limits for hunters in recent years.

FUTURE OF THE WINTER FWC COUNT

The FWC will be more important than ever in the coming years. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) plans to terminate their aerial survey of waterfowl wintering in New York State, after comparing results of the two surveys and concluding that the FWC provided comparable (and for some species, better) data for monitoring long-term population trends (Swift and Hess 1999).

NYSDEC will rely on the Federation count as its standard survey, and they have already become actively involved in compiling and reporting the annual data. It is essential now that member clubs and individuals maintain complete and consistent coverage of areas that they have surveyed in the past to ensure that results are comparable from year-to-year and over the long- term.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank all of the approximately 280 observers who participated this year. A special thanks to the Regional Compilers who coordinated all those volunteers. Regional Compilers were:

 
NEXT YEAR

The 2001 Federation Waterfowl Count (FWC ) dates are from 13 through 21 Jan, with Sunday, 14 Jan, as the target

LITERATURE CITED

Serie, J. R. and R. V. Raftovich, Jr. 2000. Atlantic Flyway Midwinter Waterfowl Survey 2000 - Final Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Migratory Bird Management, Laurel, MD 20708. 3 p.

Swift, B. L. and P. J. Hess. 1999. A comparison of winter waterfowl surveys in New York. Northeast Wildlife 54:85-92.

Table 1. Regional totals for January 2000 Federation Waterfowl Count.

 See Region Map (popup)

Species/Region            1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8      9     10   Total
Loon, Red-throated        0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     24    246    270
     Common               0     0     5     0     4     1     0     0      5    249    264
Grebe, Pied-billed        8     4    34     0     2     0     0     0     16    113    177
     Horned               0     7    21     0     0     0     4     0      8    142    182
     Red-necked           0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      1      1
Cormorant, D.-crested    41     1     1     0     8     0     0     0      0    159    210
     Great                0     0     1     0     1     0     0     0     43    169    214
Goose, Snow               0     0   120     0     0     0   606    10      1    200    937
     Canada            4169  4603 33765  4281 11830  4971  3708 34721  15004  45948 163000
Brant                     0     5     0     0     0     0     0     0      0  10682  10687
Swan, Mute                0   110     1     1     2     0     2   117    287   1186   1706
     Trumpeter            0     2     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      0      2
     Tundra             139     4   139     0     0     8     0     0      0      4    294
Wood Duck                 5     1     1     1     1     0     0     0      9     13     31
Gadwall                  47    31    81     0    14    10     0     0     34   1208   1425
Wigeon, Eurasian          0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      1      2      3
     American            35     6    25     1     3     0     1     0    154   1442   1667
Am. Black Duck          122   838  1234   201   193   289   478   722   1246  12584  17907
Mallard                6897  8941  6999  1779  3235  1029  2774  1872   3645  12343  49514
Mallard X Black           0     5     0     1     0     0     2     0     12     41     61
Blue-winged Teal          0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      0      0
Northern Shoveler         0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     18    520    538
Northern Pintail          0     0     4     0     4     1     0     0      9    264    282
Green-winged Teal         0     2     5     0     0     0     0     0     10    597    614
Canvasback             7420    48   659     1     0     0     0  1000    780   1506  11414
Redhead                 445  5125  6095     0    87   300     0     0      1     35  12088
Ring-necked Duck         25    41   176     1   127     0     8     3    345    489   1215
Tufted Duck               0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      0      0
Scaup, Greater        11965  1111   160     0  1906  2764    75     0   4849   6976  29806
     Lesser              61   166   541     0    30     0     3     0   1285    671   2757
     scaup species        0     1    91     0     0    16   300     1      0     88    497
Eider, King               0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      0      0
     Common               0     1     0     0     0     0     0     0      0    411    412
Harlequin Duck            0     1     0     0     0     0     0     0      0      9     10
Scoter, Surf              0     2     0     0     0     0     0     0      0   4034   4036
     White-winged      1591    87     2     0     0     0     0     0      0   6456   8136
     Black                1     1     0     0     0     0     0     0      0    371    373
     scoter species       0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0      0   1121   1121
Long-tailed Duck       3021   827     4     0    17   383     0     0     33   3014   7299
Bufflehead              833   176   315     0    98   132   106     0    875   6045   8580
Goldeneye, Common      2065  4838  1820    12  1103  2044  1311   401    187   1763  15544
     Barrow's             0     0     1     0     0     0     0     0      0      0      1
Merganser, Hooded        29    37    22    10    26     6    47    41    261   1333   1812
     Common            4034  1349   249   159   747   326  1553   588   1414     69  10488
     Red-breasted       264    59    17     0    31     5     3     1    187   4554   5121
Ruddy Duck                2     2     2     0     6     0     0     0   1143   3999   5154
American Coot            89   532  1342    60    27     0     4     0    423   1226   3703
Unidentified            299    24    30     0     0   290     0     0   2304     16   2963
 
TOTAL OF ABOVE        43607 28988 53962  6508 19502 12575 10985 39477  34613 132299 382516

Table 2. Comparison of the 2000 count with 1999 count for all species totaling over 1,000 individuals in 1999 or 2000, or both.

Species                   1999      2000   % Change from 1999
 
Snow Goose               1,544      ,937     -39.3
Canada Goose           108,029   163,000      50.9
Brant                   26,700    10,687     -60
Mute Swan                1,871     1,706      -8.8
Gadwall                  1,842     1,425     -22.6
American Wigeon          1,867     1,667     -10.7
American Black Duck     20,176    17,907     -11.2
Mallard                 47,872    49,514       3.4
Canvasback              11,960    11,414      -4.6
Redhead                 12,768    12,088      -0.5
Ring-necked Duck         1,407     1,215     -13.6
scaup (both species)    51,695    33,060     -36
scoter (all species)    13,951    13,666      -2
Long-tailed Duck        13,071     7,299     -44.2
Bufflehead               9,371     8,580      -8.4
goldeneye (both species)15,890    15,545      -2.2
Hooded Merganser         1,446     1,812      25.3
Common Merganser         8,338    10,488      25.8
Red-breasted Merganser   5,030     5,121       1.8
Ruddy Duck               8,834     5,154     -41.7
American Coot            3,779     3,703      -2
 
TOTAL                  367,441   375,988       2.3

Table 3. Comparison of 2000 count with 1973-1999 average for all species consistently totaling over 1,000 individuals annually.

Species                Average     2001  % Change
Canada Goose            69,459  122,223       76%
Brant                   15,109    8,038      -47%
American Black Duck     19,826   17,356      -12%
Mallard                 32,376   47,122       46%
Canvasback              10,652   24,584      131%
Redhead                  7,437   19,915      168%
scaup (both species)    50,222   55,852       11%
scoters (all species)   12,373   30,752      149%
Long-tailed Duck         4,386    8,160       86%
Bufflehead               6,077   10,025       65%
Common Goldeneye        12,292   19,639       60%
Common Merganser        11,461    9,464      -17%
Red-breasted Merganser   4,282    8,058       88%
TOTAL of all species   268,763  397,764       48%

Walton B. Sabin
652 Kenwood Avenue
Slingerlands, NY 12159-0044

Bryan L. Swift
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Wildlife Resources Center
108 Game Farm Road
Delmar, NY 12054-9767

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