along with native water plants, offer
a diverse diet that helps draw in ducks
and improves their health. Corn and
other agricultural crops provide ducks
with plenty of carbohydrates that turn
to fat, but studies have shown that
duck survival rates over winter and
reproductive success increases when
they are offered a diet that includes a
variety of food sources. Invertebrates
and seeds from moist-soil plants from
wetlands provide a balance to a duck’s
carbohydrate-rich diet in ag areas.
Hemi-marsh habitat also provides
additional nesting cover for hens.
Ducks are territorial, and a dominant
hen won’t tolerate other hens nesting
nearby. Having a mosaic of open water
and vegetation not only increases food
production but also maximizes nest
space and provides more cover. More
cover means more birds.
NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT
If you’re serious about improv-
ing your duck impoundment look
beyond the banks of your honey
hole at the surrounding habitat. If
your impoundment is surrounded
by open ground or agricultural fields
you run the risk of sediment buildup,
Dr. Davis says.
“Water runs downhill, and that
usually means that silt will build up
in your impoundment over time and
could reduce productivity”, Davis says.
He recommends that land man-
agers extend their managed area to
include the dry land surrounding the
impoundment. Transitioning that
area into grasslands can be very ben-
eficial to birds.
“Dabblers can nest in the wetland,
but they prefer to nest in the uplands,”
Dr. Davis says. “Planting grasslands
around your impoundment reduces
silting and provides nesting habitat
for dabblers. Divers like canvasback
nest in the water, so having a mixed
habitat with hemi-marsh and uplands
provides habitat for a wide variety of
waterfowl species.”Planting grasslands around your
impoundment also serves to reduce
predation. Dr. Davis says that land
managers are essentially trying to
“wear out” predators, and that’s done
by increasing habitat size creating a
patchy grassland such that predators
like skunks, raccoons, and foxes will
find it more difficult to locate birds
and nests. If you plant native grass-
lands around your impoundment
you’ll baffle the bird eaters and you’ll
also attract upland species like quail
and cottontail rabbits which serve as
an additional food source (and distrac-
tion) for predators.
Clearly, wetland management
doesn’t just effect ducks. Instead,
wetland habitats play a role in the
lives of innumerable species, and
healthy wetlands also benefit humans.
They provide natural flood control,
recharge groundwater reserves and
cycle nutrients, all of which are criti-
cally important to the overall health
of the landscape.