Episode #299 Blue-Winged Teal Duckling Survival Jumped From 20% to 70% | Grant Rhodes

Blue-Winged Teal Duckling Survival Jumped From 20% to 70% | Grant Rhodes Biologist Grant Rhodes returns to the North American Waterfowler Podcast for the third year in a row to share what he learned during his fourth field season studying Blue-winged Teal across the Prairie Pothole Region. Grant and his team are using drones equipped with thermal imaging, radio telemetry, and uniquely marked hens to study Blue-winged Teal broods and better understand what actually drives duckling survival. And this year produced some incredible results. After seeing duckling survival around 20% in previous years, Grant's raw numbers from this season showed survival approaching 70%. What changed? Water. We discuss how wet conditions across the breeding grounds created more seasonal wetlands, increased food and invertebrate availability, provided better concealment from predators, spread broods across the landscape, and allowed young teal to move between wetlands. We also get into: • Why Blue-winged Teal were chosen for this research• How thermal drones are changing the way researchers count duck broods• Why nest predation was so severe during the Saskatchewan years• Ravens and their impact on nesting success• Predator management and nest survival• Why some broods traveled as far as a mile• A hen that went from 11 ducklings to 21 through brood adoption• What ducklings are eating during their first weeks of life• Why Grant believes we could see a significant increase in Blue-winged Teal following this year's production• What harvest really means for Blue-winged Teal populations• Why habitat and breeding-ground conditions remain so important to waterfowl populations• Where Grant's research goes from here This is Grant's fourth field season studying Blue-winged Teal and his third appearance on the podcast. Each year we've been able to follow the research as it develops, and this may be the most interesting year yet. Join the Freelance Duck Hunting Patreon:patreon.com/freelanceduckhunting Thanks to the partners of the North American Waterfowler Podcast: TideWe — NAW18 for 18% offRetay Shotguns — retayusa.comFlight Day Ammunition — flightdayammo.comSlayer Duck Calls — slayercalls.comMammoth Guardian Dog Crates — Search Mammoth Guardian Dog Crate on AmazonShoddy Gear — shoddygear.com — Code FDH10 #BlueWingedTeal #DuckHunting #Waterfowl #WaterfowlHunting #DuckResearch #WaterfowlBiology #PrairiePotholeRegion #NorthAmericanWaterfowler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices