At this time of year ponds, lakes and other wetlands in the Yukon can be busy places for waterfowl. It is breeding season for the many thousands of ducks, swans, loons and geese that migrate to the Yukon each year.

Keeping track of these annual visitors can be difficult as they nest and breed all around the territory. For many years the only regular survey was an aerial one conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Old Crow Flats. But for the past eleven years the birds in more accessible wetlands in the southern Yukon have also been counted.

Every spring the Waterfowl Breeding Population Surveys attempt to estimate the number of birds breeding in large wetlands next to roads in the southern Yukon. The numbers help biologists to track general trends in these populations.

Nancy Hughes, a Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) biologist who helps to coordinate the survey, says that the numbers of certain species might fluctuate from year to year, but in general waterfowl populations seem stable in the territory.

In the 1991 survey, the most common waterfowl species were Scaup, Mallards, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Barrow's Goldeneye and Northern Shoveler. These species are still the most common ones today as well.

Blue-winged Teal are one example of a species whose numbers can rise and fall sharply from year. In 1998 these birds showed up in record numbers in the Yukon, most likely because it was dry on the Prairies that summer and more birds continued north to breed. In 1999 the number of Blue-winged Teal dropped by 84 percent from the previous year, putting their population back at more normal levels.

The Yukon survey is also important for tracking what is happening on a continental level. For example, there is a concern that the two species of scaup that summer here are not doing as well in other parts of their ranges. Many Greater Scaup winter around the Great Lakes and the northeast coast of the United States, while Lesser Scaup travel as far as the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Great Lakes.

But the scaup breeding in the Yukon seem to be holding their own. Hughes says that populations could be healthier here than in other places because there are fewer problems with loss of habitat here.

About 180 wetlands are surveyed at least once every spring; and many are surveyed as many as five times during May and June. The surveys are conducted cooperatively by the CWS, the Yukon Department of Renewable Resources, and Yukon College.

Hughes says that the survey gives biologists a chance to keep track of the status of different wetlands as well as of birds. For example, one wetland in the Wolf Creek subdivision had almost dried up in recent years, but this spring it looks large enough to float a canoe.

Hughes says that the surveys can be conducted quite quickly. At each wetland along the route the surveyors count all of the birds t hey can see and/or hear, noting species and numbers before moving on to the next site.

For her part, Hughes says she appreciates the opportunity to get out and see what is happening in different wetlands. "It is just nice to get out there and see what is coming back," she says.

For more information, contact Nancy Hughes at 667-3928 or nancy.hughes@ec.gc.ca.