Migration Alert: Cold Front Delivers Waterfowl to Nebraska

Weather conditions across the northern reaches of the Central Flyway swung from one end of the spectrum to the other with the arrival of the waterfowl hunting season’s first significant weather system. The change was good news for hunters in parts of Nebraska, as the snow, freezing temperatures and strong northwest winds had waterfowl on the move.

Flocks of snow geese, white-fronted geese, and Canada geese began showing up in the skies above Nebraska almost as soon as the weather changed, says Terry Kostinec, DU’s director of development for Nebraska and South Dakota. Reports from across the state suggest that ducks were on the move, too.

“Mallards and other puddlers finally showed up in some areas, but I think hunters in Nebraska would agree that the impact of the cold front seemed to vary more than we expected it to, given how drastic the change was in terms of temperature and the wind,” says Kostinec.

Case in point, the waters of the Missouri River along the Nebraska-South Dakota border, where Kostinec has been hunting in recent days.

“There has absolutely been an uptick in the number of ducks and geese in the area, and there are even some sandhill cranes now using some of the shallow-water areas, but we are a long way from the kind of numbers you’d expect in the days after a big cold front, especially at this point in the season,” says Kostinec. “Still, overall, based on the conversations I’ve had with folks around the state, bird numbers are in a better place than they were before, and that means hunting opportunities have improved, too.”

Those areas of improved waterfowl numbers include the river systems in western Nebraska, reports veteran hunter Doug Steinke, where waterfowl numbers saw a big jump.

“Canada geese, especially, finally showed up in some of those places where you’d expect them to be by this time of the year,” Steinke says. “The hunting had been slow, so the change has been good.”

Further good news for Nebraska hunters may arrive this week with another round of cold temperatures hitting both North Dakota and South Dakota, where ice now covers almost all but the biggest bodies of water. Overnight lows across both states are set to be in the single digits for multiple days beginning on Thanksgiving.