California Department of Fish and Wildlife 2022 Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey Shows Duck Numbers Down

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife released the results of their 2022 Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey for the first time since 2019 (due to the pandemic, of course). The data collected shows the overall number of breeding ducks has decreased by 19 percent, including mallards which are the most abundant duck in the survey. Individually the Mallards showed a 25 percent decrease in their breeding population.
I’ll just give you a quick excerpt from the report since there’s really no reason to plagiarize the entire thing:

(From the DFW report on the survey): “…the total number of ducks (all species combined) decreased from 470,450 in 2019 (the last year the survey was conducted) to 379,870 this year. This estimate is 30 percent below the long-term average. The estimated breeding population of mallards decreased from 239,830 in 2019 to 179,390 this year, which is below their long-term average. The decline is attributed to the ongoing drought and the loss of upland nesting habitat for ducks.”

If you want to read DFW’s news release on the survey you can access it at the following link…

https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/cdfw-completes-2022-waterfowl-breeding-population-survey

If you’d like to read the entire Breeding Population Survey Report, you can access that at the link below…

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=202508&inline

So, more bad news for the coming season. Hopefully, we’ll get some weather early to drive more birds down to our end of the Pacific Flyway and the numbers will (hopefully) jump up for our season.

Don’t forget the upcoming Special Volunteer Workday at San Jacinto on Saturday, July 9th. This workday is to install new permit booths in honor of James Honeyfield, an SJWA regular who pass on last year. You can get details on this upcoming workday in SoCalHunt’s report at the link below…

Date Set for Special Volunteer Workday at San Jacinto Wildlife Area – July 9th

Also, keep an eye out here at SoCalHunt for announcements soon on the upcoming Blind Brush-up Workdays, likely in late July or early August and September to get things ready for the upcoming season at San Jacinto.

Hope to see you out there!

Date Set for Special Volunteer Workday at San Jacinto Wildlife Area – July 9th

Tom Trakes, from San Jacinto Wildlife Area, advised that they have scheduled a Special Volunteer Workday for the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. The date is Saturday, July 9th. This special workday is for the assembly and installation of three new prefab metal permit booths. These booths will replace the old, worn-out wooden permit booths on Davis Rd. (across from the check station), at the Dog Training Area, and a new one will be installed at Bridge Street. These booths are to honor a long-time regular, James Honeyfield, who passed away in 2021. James’ family has raised money to purchase these new permit booths for SJWA to honor James’ memory.

Volunteers are asked to gather at 6:00 AM at the SJ Check Station Parking Lot. Tom advised that anyone coming out to volunteer should bring gloves, and if you have a battery-powered drill/screwdriver that might come in handy also.

As always for this time of year, sunscreen and mosquito repellent are suggested as good ideas. SJWA staff will provide cold bottled water for this workday. After the work is done, we will get together at Marcello’s Pizza Restaurant for a well-deserved lunch (each person responsible for their own bill).

Hopefully, we’ll have a good turnout and the new permit booths will go up in short order, ready for the coming season. As always, when it comes to workdays, the more volunteers the better (meaning less work for each person).

Tom expects to have the usual Blind Brush-up Workdays scheduled soon, the first one likely in late July or early August. Watch SoCalHunt for the regular Blind Brush-up Workdays dates to be scheduled soon!

If you have any questions, contact Tom Trakes at the San Jacinto headquarters at (951) 236-3040.