Declining Northern Pintail Ducks Receive Personal Conservation Program

Oak Hammock Marsh MB, July 11 – North America's northern pintail ducks are in trouble.

These graceful birds, with long necks and long tail-feathered males, once numbered 10 million birds. Found in Canada from British Columbia to Ontario, they were among North America's most common ducks in the mid-1950s. Today, with the pintail population numbering 3.3 million birds, Ducks Unlimited waterfowl biologists are developing a tailor made habitat conservation program in an effort to turn around the decline.

Dr. Karla Guyn, conservation programs biologist with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DU), has studied northern pintails for the past eight years. She recently attended a workshop in California with pintail experts from across Canada and the United States who are developing a management plan for the dwindling ducks. Guyn agrees with the commonly held belief that habitat loss, especially on Canada's Prairies where the majority of the birds nest, is the main cause of the birds' decline.

"Pintails are very different from other ducks," Guyn said. "They prefer sparse nesting cover and will nest in cropland stubble just as readily as they would in short grass." Other duck species will avoid nesting in cropland, preferring grass or shrub areas that cover and protect nests.

As a result of their habitat preferences and their early return to nesting grounds in the spring, pintail hens often establish nests in crop stubble where nests are at greater risk of destruction by farm equipment.

Changing Landscapes Challenge Pintails

Land cultivation has changed the habitats pintails have been using for centuries. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in the past 100 years Canada's cultivated land area expanded from less than 10 million hectares to around 68 million hectares. Wetlands in the southern Prairies, that pintails and other wildlife require, have also disappeared. Approximately 70 per cent of the wetlands in this area have been lost or degraded. In addition to habitat loss, the use of larger farm equipment and the move to seed fields every year may also contribute to pintails' challenges on their nesting grounds.

"Anything we do to help conserve habitat on the Prairies is beneficial to a whole host of wildlife," Guyn said. "But pintails are the primary focus of this program."

The Habitat Solution

The pintail program will mirror Ducks Unlimited's existing habitat conservation programs with one crucial exception - efforts will be directed toward key pintail habitats. These are habitats Ducks Unlimited may not have previously considered priority areas according to Guyn.

"Pintails prefer shallow, temporary ponds of water. These areas most important to pintails haven't typically corresponded with our habitat program in the past," Guyn said. "A specific conservation program is warranted. We are concerned about the future of this species."

In key northern pintail habitats, DU will work with agricultural landowners to enhance the areas for the birds by incorporating economically viable land use practices. These include conversion of cropland to forages and incorporating fall seeded cereals into cropping plans. Forage crops require less intensive management by landowners and they provide pintails with good nesting habitat in the spring. Research has proven that fall seeded crops, like winter wheat and fall rye, are attractive to pintails. Eggs laid in these crops hatch more often than those laid in spring-seeded crops. The production of pintails nesting in fall-seeded crops increases 15 to 20 times over those nesting in traditional spring-seeded crops.

Habitat restoration, land acquisition, and guiding and advocating policies beneficial to pintail habitats are also components of the pintail program.

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Declining Northern Pintail Ducks Receive Personal Conservation Program

Changing Landscapes Challenge Pintails

The Habitat Solution