Air Date: Week of May 5, 2023

A painting of two ducks from South Dakotan artist Adam Grimm. (Photo: Adam Grimm, USFWS)

While nearly a third of North American bird species are in decline, many birds that depend on wetlands are thriving. BirdNote®’s Michael Stein reports.

Transcript

BASCOMB: Well, the vireos that Catherine Pierce writes about aren’t the only birds that are thriving. BirdNote’s Michael Stein has more.

BirdNote®

Wetland Birds Thrive
[Dawn song of birds in a freshwater marsh]
While nearly a third of North American bird species are in decline, many birds that depend on wetlands are thriving. [Call of Redheads]
The main determinant of duck breeding success is the condition of wetlands and upland habitat on the prairies and in the boreal forest. After the extended droughts of the 1980s, conditions on the breeding grounds improved when the rains returned. And, waterfowl hunters, through organizations like Ducks Unlimited, have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to conserve and restore wetlands.

It’s not just ducks that benefit. Nearly one quarter of US birds, such as this Virginia Rail, rely on freshwater wetlands. [Calls of Virginia Rail]
Yes, challenges remain. Breeding habitat in the prairie pothole region is under increasing pressure for conversion to agriculture. But wetland birds respond to our efforts. For example, in spring, in wetland-rich areas protected by conservation programs in the Dakotas, you can find more than 100 breeding pairs of ducks on a single square mile of prairie. [Quacking of hen Mallard]

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Dawn chorus at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge [uned] recorded by G.F. Budney; quacking of hen Mallard [3420] by A.A. Allen; calls of Redheads [59598] by W.W.H. Gunn; call of Virginia Rail [107435] by W.L. Hershberger.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Written by Todd Peterson
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org March 2014/2016/2020 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# SotB-wetlands-01-2010-03-21 SotB-wetlands-01b

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-surveys/2013-duck-numbers
http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-surveys/2013-duck-numbers
Young, Matt. “Rescuing the Duck Factory”, Ducks Unlimited magazine. November/December 2008. P.71
http://www.ducks.org/news/1305/Ducknumbersupslightl.html
https://www.birdnote.org/show/wetland-birds-thrive

BASCOMB: For photos flock on over to the Living on Earth website, LOE.org.

 

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