Observations in the wake of last week’s epic storm – just in time for today’s opening of the third duck-hunting segment – might tempt one to conclude that Colorado’s waterfowl cup is half empty, all the froth blown away on the teeth of hurricane winds.
Certainly a cursory look at the figures fluttering down from the Division of Wildlife’s aerial appraisal Thursday of the area along the South Platte River might give that impression. The agency’s bird-watchers counted 58,000 ducks and 39,000 geese three days ago, a highly unfavorable comparison to the 89,000 ducks and 82,000 geese tallied on a similar survey at Thanksgiving.
But wait, there’s more. Examined from a different angle, the cup isn’t empty, just different.
“The number on this flight is about the same as a year ago this time,” said Todd Sanders, DOW wildlife biologist conducting the second year of a survey of bird populations along the river from Greeley to Nebraska.
While it’s fairly evident the storm blew a high percentage of the birds off to points unknown, there’s a relative plenitude remaining.
“Every time we’ve counted ducks this year, there were more than last year at the same time,” Sanders said of the biweekly exercise.
The main difference in Thursday’s assessment is the dramatic shift from flat water toward the Platte, a blessing for anyone who possesses a lease on the river or an adjacent warm-water slough or who knows how to effectively hunt the several state wildlife areas in the region. The DOW crew found 85 percent of its ducks on the river, compared with about 5 percent on earlier counts. Frozen reservoirs and high winds contributed to the shift, Sanders said.
“I’ve been working along the river since Thanksgiving. What I saw was not only cold temperature, but gusty conditions,” Sanders said. “I’m guessing these were tailwind conditions that sent ducks south.”
While tracking snow geese at Jumbo Reservoir near Julesburg one night last week, Sanders witnessed a phenomenon rarely reported in waterfowl annals.
“The wind was gusting so hard as we drove up on the dam, I was afraid the truck might be blown off,” he said. “Water spray was coming up over the dam like something on an ocean. It was kind of scary.”
As he proceeded, he discovered a flock of snow geese that wouldn’t move from the road in front of the vehicle.
“I got out to see if I could catch one,” he said. “One walked right up to me and I just picked it up.”
Then he grabbed another and another. “They just refused to fly in that wind,” Sanders said.
Sanders said he believes many ducks may have settled along the Arkansas River Valley in southeast Colorado. Where the geese went is anyone’s guess.
Reports from hunters who keep close touch with the upper Front Range, an area not covered by the DOW aerial reconnaissance, indicate thousands of newly arrived geese remain in the area despite the extreme cold and wind.
Mark Beam, operator of Stillwater Outfitters, sighted squadrons of geese arriving last weekend ahead of the arctic storm that disrupted them on their staging areas on the northern prairie.
“A heck of a lot of geese rolled into the Front Range. These are bigger birds and they’ve stayed,” Beam said.
Hardy birds, geese can withstand considerable cold as long as adequate food remains available. They typically migrate ahead of the snow line, that variable demarcation where snow depths prevent them from reaching corn and other grain essential to survival. The absence of heavy snow during last week’s storm served to keep them around.
In their tens of thousands, these Front Range birds become attenuated to certain urban corridors.
“They’re only active a few miles beyond their roost,” Beam said of the staging points on the several major reservoirs in the region. Beam particularly spotted lots of birds on Union Reservoir, north of Longmont.
John Young, a 30-year goose veteran, observed up to 4,000 Canada geese roosting in the grass along the edge of Windsor Reservoir, unable to maintain in the wind on the frozen surface.
“They were huddled up in the weeds and fields, but they didn’t leave the country,” said Young, who led a group of hunters who bagged 16 birds Wednesday.
What remains to be determined is whether the ducks that arrived in greater numbers at an earlier date this season represent a significant percentage of the total migration. Are there fewer birds left to migrate than at this time a year ago?
That question isn’t likely to be answered for a while. But one thing is certain. Barring a sudden heat wave, you shouldn’t expect to find ducks far from a river.
Listen to Charlie Meyers at 9 a.m. each Saturday on “The Fan Outdoors,” radio KKFN 950 AM. He can be reached at 303-820-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
