Migration Alert: Pacific Northwest Waterfowlers Face Varying Habitat Conditions

The outlook for waterfowl season in the northern tier of the Pacific Flyway varies based on the quality of the local habitat. Late summer rains refilled some of the driest marshes, while others are still need of additional precipitation.

However, Dr. Mark Petrie, DU's director of conservation and planning in the Western Region, points to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Breeding Waterfowl and Habitat Survey, which touts an increase in duck populations from 2023, with most of the increase in Alaska and northern Alberta, which may benefit hunters in the Pacific Northwest.

Especially intriguing, he reports, is a whopping 90 percent uptick in wigeon, which already showed significant improvements in 2023 after severe drought conditions prevailed flyway-wide in past years.

Petrie notes an overall modest increase in the flyway's duck production, but also points out last year's mild winter, which left many ducks lingering north of the Canadian border until well into November and December. As usual, winter weather will dictate the pace of the migration.

A less promising picture may be in store for goose hunters.

Despite relaxed regulations, there are predicted to be far fewer geese of all species in this year's fall flight. Canada, cackler, snow, and white-fronted goose numbers are down. Especially troubling are sharp declines in cackling geese, important for western Oregon and Washington hunters, and snow goose production.

The snows are largely from Russia's Wrangell Island, and while global tensions have interrupted the flow of information between Russian and American scientists, word from researchers suggests that snow geese had poor breeding success on the island this summer.

There will be plenty of snow geese headed down the Pacific Flyway, but most will be highly educated adult birds.

“They're harder to hunt when there aren't a lot of juveniles,” notes Brandon Reishus, waterfowl biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Reishus also reports cackling geese from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and beyond suffered a nearly 50 percent reduction from target numbers.

Following is a state-by-state preview of preseason habitats conditions in the northern portions of the Pacific Flyway.

Washington

Kyle Spragens, waterfowl section manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, tempers his optimism by noting bleak spring survey results and low water levels east of the Cascades.

Tina Blewett, a DU biologist based in Spokane, reports that the Scablands, for example, remain dry despite some rainfall in other parts of the east.

Spragens adds that while banding season began slowly, late rains and even a few early migrants brought some late-nesting ducks into traps, mostly mallards.

An estimated 160,000 snow geese wintered in eastern Washington last season, and Spragens expects them to return, along with thousands more which spend the season in the Skagit River Valley of north Puget Sound. Some, in fact, have already arrived.

Oregon

Reishus believes that dry weather in northern British Columbia and late, wet conditions in Alaska should not impact the arrival of birds from those areas.

“Alaska is somewhat drought proof,” Reishus states.

Reishus adds that local production of mallards has been good, judging from trapping and banding operations. 

Hunters heading to southeast Oregon can expect a typically good opener at Summer Lake, which is spring fed. Reishus reports that the Warner Wetlands and most areas north of Hart Lake Road are “dry as a bone,” while areas to the south are wetter. Malheur Lake had water west of the north-south highway this year.

Kelly Warren, DU's western Oregon biologist, suggests early season hunters focus on coastal estuaries, where early teal and wigeon should be in abundance.

Idaho

Jeff Knetter, waterfowl specialist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, reports that it has been a dry year across most of the state's southern tier. That said, he adds, the state's wildlife management units have adequate water, with the exception of Market Lake in the east.

Banding data points to “decent production locally,” he says.

As always, hunters should find good hunting opportunities along the Snake River and adjacent sloughs, especially in close proximity to irrigated agricultural crops.