Biologist's Journal 2000

September 5, 2000

This is the final update/journal entry for Pinsat 2000. Check back with us in December 2000, when we well again be trapping pintails in the Sacramento Valley. We will be marking a sample of 55 adult hens with satellite transmitters (PTTs). Thanks for your interest in our project over this first year. We hope you have gained a new appreciation for the ways in which pintails use the North American (and even Russian) landscape. To finish up, here’s the latest status of the remaining active PTTs:#17032 remains on Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) at Baird Inlet near Newtok; 17482 is again on Augustine Island in Cook Inlet in Alaska; 17488 is on Lake Claire at the west end of Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta; 17524 remains on the Susitna River south of Highway 8, but somewhat farther north than during the last 2 months; 17530 was missing for a week, but she just reported in from an area east of Howard Lake, which is east of Great Slave Lake - this is south of her long-term use area near the Thelon River; 17531 has an intermittent PTT and her last location was of poor quality, but she may be either in the Teton Basin of east central Idaho or western Wyoming; 17537 is on the YKD at Hooper Bay; 17553 is still in Russia, but she appears to have moved east across the international date line to the eastern edge of the Gulf of Anadyr near Povorotnyy Point; 17557 has been missing since August 23 and the PTT probably has run out of power; 17585 has been missing since August 30, but she has been on the North Slope of Alaska; 17586 remains in the Sacramento Valley on Delevan National Wildlife Refuge; 17611 is still on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska near Good Hope Bay on the Nugnugaluktuk River; 17615 is at Chefornak on Kinak Bay on the YKD in Alaska; and finally, 17689 remains in southern Alberta, where she has been since early summer.

August 28, 2000

PTTs are weakening, which yields fewer useable locations, but there were some interesting movements last week. Pintail #17482 is in the middle of Cook Inlet in Alaska on Augustine Island. For those of you with Alaska Gazeteers, check on page 60. We think the bird may be in the vicinity of Burr Point on the north side. Pintail 17488 continues her southward travel from the NWT, and she is now somewhere on, or in the vicinity of, Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta. Location quality is poor, however, so we cannot ascertain a more specific location. Our first fall migrant to show up in California, 17586, is now back in the Sacramento Valley in Butte Sink, east of the Sacramento River, west of Butte Creek, and north of Butte Sink NWR (Page 77 in the northern California Gazeteer). Our Russian bird is still in the Anadyr-Kanchalan River Delta as always. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and other Alaska birds seem to be holding tight for the time being. Hopefully, some additional birds will start fall movements south before the PTTs give out.

August 21, 2000

Some of our pintails are starting to move! As reported earlier, bird #17586, which had been in Saskatchewan, moved south to Big Valley, near Bieber, in northeastern California. A few days after that, she flew south to the Sacramento Valley, but then went back north to Big Valley! Additionally, bird #17488 moved south from Lac Des Bois above the Smith Arm of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories (NWT) to Windflower Lake, still in NWT, which lies west of Yellowknife and the northern reach of Great Slave Lake. Pintail #17482 moved south from her long-term location at the west end of Lake Iliamna in Alaska to the north and east shore of Kvichak Bay in Alaska. At this time, all of the other active PTT-marked pintails remain where they have been for some time. PTTs seem to be failing, or have not reported in lately, on the following: 17585 (north slope of Alaska), 17700 (YK Delta Alaska), and 17531 (southern Alberta). Others are still giving locations, but of low quality resulting from declining battery power. This is to be expected now, since we are nearing the end of the planned life of these units.

August 7, 2000

Fall migration has begun! Pintails are one of the first ducks to migrate south in the fall and many adult males (most in their brownish "eclipse" plumage) are present in the Central Valley as early as the first week of August. Females and the current year's young usually arrive later. It looks like female pintail #17586 has begun her move south. This pintail is a specially interesting one, having moved last spring from the Central Valley to SW Idaho to NE California to Montana to the Dakotas. On July 8-9, she moved from North Dakota to Saskatchewan, where she remained until July 28. However, on 3 August she headed back south and is currently near Adin, California, which is the same area that she had used on her northerly spring migration.

July 31, 2000

Most of our remaining PTT-tagged pintails are still staying put. Bird #17537, still on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta in Alaska, did move inland from the Hooper Bay area to Hazen Bay on the Azun River, and there is some indication that #17586, which has been in Saskatchewan, made a move, but the location quality was poor so we will await additional data to make a determination of that. PTT #17531 finally stopped giving locations, probably for good this time, and #17700 suddenly stopped giving locations last week. This bird has been at Aropuk Lake on the Y-K Delta. There are 13 active PTTs.

July 24, 2000

Our pintails continue, for the most part, to remain at previous long-used locations. Several of the PTTs are starting to weaken, which results in many locations of poor quality, and some PTTs are completely missing some days when they were to report locations. Nonetheless, we are still getting useful data. The only pintail that moved significantly this week was #17488, which turned up on Kilekale Lake in the NWT, a short distance east of her previous long-term use area of Lac Des Bois north of Great Bear Lake’s Smith Arm. All other birds are in previous locations, and we suspect they are molting or with young. If some of our PTTs last through August, we should be able to record post-molt movements to new locations.

July 10, 2000

I don’t think any of our birds moved more than 20 feet since last week! The one exception is 17586, which continues to move about North Dakota, now southeast of Minot east of Cottonwood Lake. In Alaska, pintail #17611 is still in the Cloud/Imuruk Lakes area of the Seward Peninsula, #17585 is still on the North Slope, #17482 is still at the west end of Lake Iliamna, #17524 is still along the Susitna River along Highway 8, and #’s 17537 (Hooper Bay), 17557 (Kwikpak), 17700 (Aropuk Lake), 17615 (Chefornak), and 17032 (Baird Inlet) are all on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Pintail #17488 is still at the south end of Lac des Bois in the NWT, and 17530 is still south of the Thelon River in the NWT on an unnamed lake. Russian pintail #17553 is still there, but 17531, which had been in Alberta near Calgary, missed her reporting date and location is unknown.

July 3, 2000

Pintails remained relatively sedentary over the last week. Present distribution includes 5 birds on the YK Delta in Alaska: #17032 on Baird Inlet, #17537 near Hooper Bay, #17557 northwest of Kotlik, #17615 nw of Kipnuk at Chefornak-Kinak River, and #17700 at Aropuk Lake; 4 birds in other parts of Alaska: #17482 at the west end of Lake Iliamna, #17524 along the Susitna River Valley along Highway 8 (Denali Highway), #17585 on the North Slope near Tractor Lake, and #17611 on the Seward Peninsula at Imuruk Lake; 2 birds in the Northwest Territories: #17488 at the south end of Lac des Bois just north of the Smith Arm of Great Bear Lake, and #17530 on an unnamed lake south of the Thelon River; #17553 is still in the Anadyr-Kanchalan River Delta in Russia; #17531 is west of Calgary near Cochran Lake (may be a flying location); #17689 is on Crow Indian Lake near Milk River in southern Alberta; and #17586 is still in North Dakota, just north of Fullerton (again, may be a flying location).

June 26, 2000

Pintails seemed to have settled down this last week. The biggest news is that the PTT on bird #17531 has, at least temporarily, come back to life and is giving locations again. This bird was near Red Deer, Alberta when the PTT stopped giving locations, but during the "down time" she moved to the outskirts of Calgary to Glenmore Reservoir, which is also on the Sarcee Indian Reservation. Pintail #17586, our midwestern bird, at first moved south and east in South Dakota, but then returned to North Dakota. #17553 is still in Russia, and the rest of the birds are still in or near previous locations.

June 19, 2000

Just a bit of movement this past week. Bird #17530 in the Northwest Territories moved 50 km farther east to Eyeberry Lake (east of Great Slave Lake). Pintail #17585 moved farther north and east along Alaska’s north slope to near Tractor Lake, which is just south of Point Barrow and lies between Peard Bay and the Tuvak Inaru River. Bird #17032, having spent most of her time inland in Alaska, most recently along the Nageethluk River, has now moved out to the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta at Hazen Bay (between Chevak and Taksook Bay). In other news, the Russian bird, #17553, is still in the Anadyr River Valley and #17586 is still in South Dakota, having moved a short distance to a small lake on Redwater Creek on the Cheyenne River Reservation. We have lost contact with a couple of more birds, #17531 and #17514. The present distribution of active PTTs includes 9 in Alaska (5 on the YK Delta, 1 on the North Slope, 1 near Lake Iliamna, 1 along the Susitna River, 1 on the Seward Peninsula), 2 in the Northwest Territories, 1 in Russia, 1 in Alberta, and 1 in South Dakota.

June 13, 2000

Pintail #17553 remains in Russia for a second week. She has moved inland to the heart of the Anadyr River Delta, along the Kanchalan River. This is an important waterfowl area for nesting, and spring and fall migration. Two pintails are still in the Northwest Territories, one (#17530) moved farther north to Terrell Lake, still east of Great Slave Lake, and the other (#17488) remains just north of the Smith Arm of Great Bear Lake at the south end of Lac des Bois (Lake of the Woods). Farther north, in Alaska, pintail #17585 moved farther north along the North Slope to small lakes in the vicinity of Wainright Inlet. Other Alaskan birds can be found on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Seward Peninsula, and Lake Iliamna. South of the U.S.-Canadian border, pintail #17586 moved south to South Dakota along the Moreau River (west of Lake Oahe). We’ve lost contact with #17514 and #17531 may soon follow - last location near Red Deer in Alberta. ‘Til next week.

June 6, 2000

Do pintails speak Russian? This skill might be useful for bird #17553, which left the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta at Toksook Bay in Alaska and headed west, passing the international date line to eastern Russia! We recorded her on June 3rd near Nizkiy Mys (Point) just north of Anadyrskiy Liman (Bay or Lagoon) on the west side of the Gulf of Anadyr. The areas inland of this location form a major waterfowl nesting region. Leg banding data have shown previously that a certain number of pintails do make the trip to eastern Russia, especially in drought years on the Canadian prairies. However, this bird never went to the prairies, migrating directly from northeastern California to Alaska, and then on to Russia. Thus, at least some pintails migrate to Russia regardless of conditions on the prairies. In other news, bird #17585 moved north from the Y-K Delta to an area near the "North Slope" southwest of Point Barrow - this is in the National Petroleum Reserve. Bird #17586 moved back to North Dakota near Fessenden from Manitoba, and #17531 came south from Lac La Biche in central Alberta to the Parklands near Red Deer, Alberta. Present location of all remaining birds: 9 in Alaska, 3 in the Northwest Territories, 2 in southern Alberta, 1 in North Dakota, and 1 in Russia.

May 31, 2000

Not too much movement has occurred since last week. Bird # 17530 moved to the Northwest Territories from northern Saskatchewan (Lake Athabasca) to the general area of Andrecyk and Anaunethad Lakes east of Great Slave Lake. Several birds moved to different locations on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska, a major pintail nesting area. We have verified that birds 17041, 17552, 17555, and 18899 are dead. That leaves us with 16 active PTTs: 10 in Alaska, 3 in the Northwest Territories, 2 in Alberta (1 southern and 1 central), and 1 in Manitoba. The nesting season is well underway and our field crew that is following the PTT-marked birds sighted their first pintail brood last week in Saskatchewan.

May 22, 2000

After a hectic couple of weeks, our pintails seem to have settled down some. The biggest move over the last week was pintail #17557 moving up from the Copper River Delta in Alaska to the north side of Cook Inlet along the Beluga River. This area has supported several of our birds this spring. Pintail #17585 moved north from Innoko NWR to Koyukuk NWR along the Yukon River at Galena. There were some movements around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, but nothing of long distance. In Canada, Pintail #17488, which had been along the MacKenzie River at Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories (NWT), moved farther north to a lowland area just south of the Smith Arm of Great Bear Lake, a move of about 4 degrees of latitude. Bird #17514 is also along the south side of Great Bear Lake, near or on Rome Lake. We think several of the birds have died: 17041 in west central Alaska, 17552 in northern British Columbia, 17555 in NWT, and 18899 in southern Saskatchewan. We will watch our data for signs of life, but low unit temperatures and minimal motion sensor numbers suggest there is but faint hope. We cannot, at this time, assign cause of death of these birds. In summary, we have 9 birds alive in Alaska, 3 in NWT, 1 in northern Saskatchewan (17530), 2 in Alberta (17531, 17689), and 1 in southern Manitoba (17586).

May 15, 2000

Since the last journal entry, a couple of birds moved up to the Northwest Territories (NWT). Bird 17530 moved from Central Alberta to NWT at the northeast end of Great Slave Lake east of Yellowknife, and bird 17488 moved to the NWT along the MacKenzie River at Fort Simpson west southwest of Yellowknife from central Alberta. Two pintails found their way to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska, 17553 near Kipnuk and 17700 north of Bethel. Bird 17585 was recorded along the Yentna River 75 miles west of Talkeetna. So, looks like most pintails are abandoning the prairies in favor of more northerly areas, typical in a year when the prairies are dry. The May Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (May Survey) is well underway across North America now, and we will be interested to see how the distribution of the PTT-marked pintails compares with the proportionate distribution of pintails across the survey strata.

May 11, 2000

Lots going on, so let’s get right to it. All the pintails that were hanging out in southern Oregon for so long, have left and flown to Alaska, and many others have gone north of the prairies and wound up there or in the Northwest Territories or northern reaches of the prairie provinces. Only one pintail remains in southern Alberta, on the Milk River Ridge (17689), and one in southern Saskatchewan near Goose Lake s.w. of Saskatoon (18899). Additionally, #17552 is still on Lower Klamath NWR in northern California, probably nesting. Here’s the run down on the others, first those Oregon birds: Pintail 17611 had been at Klamath Forest NWR for a few weeks and then turned up in Cook Inlet west of Anchorage, Alaska at the mouth of the Beluga River - this week she made her way to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta) near Bethel, Alaska; Pintail 17553 had spent many weeks in northeastern California before heading up to the Warner Valley in southern Oregon, but she recently turned up on the Kenai Peninsula (Kenai NWR), then near Iliamna Lake, the Katmai Peninsula, then to the Nushagak River Delta near Dillingham, Alaska; Pintail 17615, also formerly in the Warner Valley, was next recorded near Pilot Point and Ugashik Bay near Alaska Peninsula NWR, and then on to the Y-K Delta south of Bethel; Bird 17557 spent several weeks at Chewaucan Marsh in southern Oregon before turning up recently over the ocean south of the Queen Charlotte Islands heading north northwest - think she’ll turn up in Alaska?! Pintail 17555 flew from southern Oregon to southern Alberta north of Calgary, then went on to the Northwest Territories north of Yellowknife. Now to the other birds: Pintail 17531 left southern Alberta and flew to Calling Lake, which is in the boreal forest north of the town of Athabasca in Alberta. The first bird to arrive in Alaska, 17537, left the Bering Glacier area and arrived at Fox River Flats on Kenai before continuing on to the Y-K Delta; Bird 17585 left southern Alberta and was recorded north of Dawson Creek in northern British Columbia, probably flying, before turning up in the Copper River Delta in southeast Alaska; Bird 17041, formerly in central Alberta, has been recorded over the Yukon, probably flying, and in east central Alaska along the Pelly River in Tintina Valley (this location still needs to be verified); Pintail 17482 left southern Alberta and was next recorded in Cook Inlet, Alaska at the mouth of the Johnson River (Silver Salmon Lakes area), and then near Iliamna Lake near Igiugig; Pintail 17530 has moved from southern Saskatchewan to northern Alberta’s Athabasca Delta, a major pintail nesting area, in Wood Buffalo National Park; Bird 17032 left southern Alberta and arrived on the Susitna Flats west of Anchorage, Alaska, and then moved to the Tetaguana River Valley in the Lake Clark National Preserve (needs to be verified); Pintail 17514 left southern Saskatchewan in favor of the Northwest Territories south of Keller Lake (south of the Great Bear Lake); Bird 17586, defying the northward trend of the other birds, has been going steadily east lately, arriving first in central North Dakota after leaving eastern Montana, and recently turning up in southern Manitoba near Brandon; Pintail 17524 has also used the Beluga River mouth area on Cook Inlet in Alaska, near Viapan Lake; lastly, pintail 17488 is now using an area north of St. Albert (west and north of Edmonton) in Alberta. The gist of all this is that the prairies don’t seem to be in good shape for nesting this year, and so pintails are moving north. It remains to be seen where and how many of these birds are going to finally settle down to nest. More next week.

May 1, 2000

We’ve got lots to report in the pintail world from the last week! The pintail that had gone up to Grande Prairie, Alberta, thought better of it and returned to the parklands south of Red Deer, also in Alberta. A couple of the birds that had been in the prairie or parklands in Alberta and Saskatchewan, have moved north. Bird #17531 moved north to Churchill Lake near a location called Buffalo Narrows between Churchill Lake and Peter Pond Lake in Central Saskatchewan. This is boreal forest. This will need some verification, as the location quality is not the best. Similarly, bird #17524 moved north to High Prairie, Alberta, which is at the west end of Lesser Slave Lake, at about the same latitude as Grande Prairie. Bird #17586 moved east from eastern Montana to Audubon National Wildlife Refuge in central North Dakota; this is the second pintail to make it to the Dakotas! Pintail #17488, after having spent several weeks in Saskatchewan, moved west to an area south of Edmonton, Alberta, near Leduc. Bird #17514, the other previous North Dakota pintail, has moved even farther north to the North Battleford, Saskatchewan area. Saving the best for last, recall that pintail #17537 had attempted to nest in Suisun Marsh, then moved north to Fall River Valley in northern California. Well, last week she headed north again and wound up in southeast Alaska, on a wide river delta at the foot of the Bering Glacier! Those of you with the Alaska Atlas and Gazeteer, check out page 75 - our bird is just north of Suckling Hills. In contrast to these moves, the other pintails seem to be holding tight, including the 5 that are apparently going to nest in southern Oregon and at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on the California-Oregon border. More next week.

April 24, 2000

Big doings this last week. Pintail #17555 has landed near Grande Prairie, Alberta which is a day’s drive northwest of Edmonton. This is the farthest north of any of our ducks so far. This is not thought of as pintail nesting territory, being aspen parkland, so she may be starting a much longer trek to points farther north. In other big news, pintail #17537, which had been nesting (apparently) at Suisun Marsh here in California, has showed up in the northeastern part of the state in Fall River Valley north of the town of McArthur. Lastly, Pintail #17514, which had been in north-western North Dakota, has turned tail and headed back north, settling in the Lloydminster, Alberta area. At this point, then, there are 10 pintails in Alberta, 3 in Saskatchewan, 1 in eastern Montana, 4 in southern Oregon, and 2 in northeastern California. More next week!

April 17, 2000

Not a lot of new movements this past week, although pintail #17486, which had been in California’s Big Valley (Bieber, CA) for a couple of weeks, moved into eastern Montana (check out the updated migration maps). There was a major cold snap and blizzard that passed through the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan in the middle of last week, but this doesn’t seem to have moved our pintails too much. The weather has since ameliorated. The present distribution of the pintails with active transmitters is 13 in Alberta/Saskatchewan, 1 in northwestern North Dakota, 1 in eastern Montana, 4 in southern Oregon/Northeast California, and 1 in Suisun Marsh in California (undoubtedly nesting now).

April 10, 2000

The most interesting movement this past week was bird #17514, which came out of Canada and into the northwestern corner of North Dakota near Wildrose. This pintail had been near Malheur NWR in eastern Oregon, then central Alberta, then southwestern Saskatchewan, then into North Dakota. North Dakota is excellent pintail nesting habitat in general. Pintail #17041, after spending the better part of a month at Malheur, showed up on the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta northwest of Devon. As of today, there are 13 pintails in Alberta-Saskatchewan, six still in northeastern California or southern Oregon, one in North Dakota, and one in Suisun Marsh near our field station in California - this one is probably nesting. Unfortunately, the other PTTs are no longer producing locations.

March 30, 2000

All of the PTT-marked pintails have left the Sacramento Valley. A new feature on our map page will allow you to see the present distribution of each individual, with all ID numbers shown, on the same North American map. Check it out! You’ll see that there are a large number in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and southern Oregon, but all have left Washington and Idaho. One duck is still on the west side of the Ruby Mountains in Nevada, and one is still in Suisun Marsh, which is about 40 miles from our field station. A few hundred pintails do nest in the marsh annually, so she could decide to join that crowd; however, there is still time to migrate to more traditional areas. There still are a few thousand pintails hanging around the Sacramento Valley and other wintering sites, but the vast majority have departed, taking all of our marked birds with them (except for the Suisun bird). Look for the pintails in southern Oregon to depart soon for more northerly areas.

March 20, 2000

The past week has been an active period of movement for our marked sample of pintails. Two birds returned to the S acramento Valley after having gone to points in the northeast part of California - perhaps recent cold weather and snow in the high desert wetland areas proved too rigorous. Here’s current distribution: There are 3 pintails in northeastern California, 2 at Lower Klamath NWR and the other along the Pit River west of Modoc NWR near Alturas; southeastern Oregon is harboring 8 PTT-marked pintails, either at or in the immediate vicinity of Malheur NWR near Burns, Chewaucan Marsh near Paisly (including one that had been near Spokane), or the Warner Valley near Adel; also, there is one pintail in the Grand Rhonde Valley near LeGrange in northern Oregon; 3 ducks are in Washington state, one on the Sunnyside Wildlife Recreation Area near the town of Sunnyside west of the Tri-Cities, 1 at Sylvan Lake southwest of Spokane, and 1 north of Spokane in the Colville Valley south of Chewelah; another bird is hanging in at Ruby Lake NWR near Elko, Nevada; 2 birds are in southern Idaho, one just west of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation near the Nevada-Idaho border and the other is on American Falls Reservoir near Pocatello along I-86; there are 4 marked pintails in Montana, 1 at Lake Francis east of Glacier Park, 1 at Benton Lake NWR north of Great Falls, 1 south of Deer Lodge along the Clark Fork River (near Warm Springs Wildlife Management Area), and another at the south end of Flathead Lake (Pablo NWR); and lastly, one bird made it to southern Alberta several days ago and is still there. We have seen significant use of federal and state areas, but a great deal of use has occurred on private lands, such as the Chewaucan Marsh and areas southwest of Spokane. Stand by for more interesting moves to be documented next week.

March 13, 2000

About 70% of the pintails with active PTTs (total of 32 providing location data) have now migrated north of the Sacramento Valley. Two migrated all the way to the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington (one near Sunnyside State Wildlife Recreation Area [#17524] and the other southwest of Spokane [#17006]). The pintail near Spokane then moved back south to Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge along the Columbia River. Four ducks are using areas surrounding Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon (#17004, 17006, 17488, 17706), including some use at Swan Lake above Klamath Falls. Six pintails are at Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges (#17053, 17477, 17482, 17552, 17739, 17852), bird #17458 has been using an area on the Modoc Plateau called Boles Meadows, and the duck that had been using the Pit River lowlands west of Alturas, California (#17553), has moved east to the Modoc National Wildlife Refuge. Ducks have been moving to the Malheur/Harney Lake National Wildlife Refuge area in eastcentral Oregon, and five of our pintails are there now (#17041, 17514, 17530, 17531, 17700). The Chewaucan River/Marsh area between Summer Lake and Lake Abert in southcentral Oregon is being used by two PTT-marked pintails at present (#17555, 17611), but others have been located there off and on. Pintail #18899 just left the Sacramento Valley and moved northeast to the Honey Lake State Wildlife Area in northeastern California near Susanville. We are experiencing very warm dry weather in the Sacramento Valley now, so we expect most of the remaining pintails to be gone within a week or so. On the other hand, maybe they will stay to enjoy the warm weather!

March 7, 2000

The pintails are continuing their slow but steady northward migration. We have locations of birds at the Warner Lakes in southeast Oregon, and to the northeast at Malheur National Wildlife Refuges. Both areas have large numbers of waterbirds during the spring. Pintail #17006 has migrated to eastern Washington, flying to the lower Snake River above Ice Harbor Dam and north to wetlands in the Palouse region. As southern areas dry out and northern areas thaw, we expect more birds will soon leave and will spread out over several different regions.

February 21, 2000

More pintails have moved north since the last posting, and only time will tell if they stay put this time. Pintail #17553 moved north northeast to an area along the Pit River, just west of Modoc National Wildlife Refuge, in northeastern California between the 17th and the 20th of February. Pintails #17739 and #17799 headed more nearly straight north between the 18th and 21st to the Tule Lake Unit of Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge along the California-Oregon border. California continues to be buffeted by winter storms and all flood bypasses are full. Many of our marked pintails have moved into these waters, especially those of the Yolo Bypass just west and south of the city of Sacramento. Winter habitat continues to be very good.

February 14, 2000

Several strong rain storms have hit California over the last couple of weeks. During one break between storms, duck #17006 managed to fly north to southern Oregon, at the point where the eastern boundary of California meets the southern boundary of Oregon. The most likely location is in the southern Warner Valley, south of Adin, Oregon. We are trying to determine what this area consists of in addition to the permanent wetlands in the Warner Valley. This pintail most likely flew north on about February 6 or so. That is interesting enough, but apparently the duck didn’t find her new digs to her liking up there, because on February 12, she was back in the Sacramento Valley! Check her movements out on the map page! Spring migration is often hit or miss, and waterfowl will often fly north only to have to return several days later when bad weather strikes. All the other PTT-marked pintails continue to use various habitats in the Sacramento Valley.

February 7, 2000.

PTT-marked pintails have begun to move around the Central Valley to well known traditional wintering areas. The National Wildlife Refuges west of the Sacramento River are being used as are the State Wildlife Areas east of the River (see the migration maps). Pintails are using private lands in southern Sutter County and in an area we call the Lower American Basin, just north of the city of Sacramento. Some of the ducks have moved to the Delta region as well. So far, no pintails have started moving north. We caught and marked the final 3 ducks the last weekend in January at Mandeville Island in the Delta. Two of these birds are still in the Delta area, but the third one moved north to the Sacramento Valley. We anticipate that PTT-marked pintails will continue to move about the Sacramento Valley and Delta regions, mixing with the general wintering populations, until the first northward migration, which may occur within 2 weeks.

January 24, 2000

Discovery for Recovery is underway! We'll provide updates on the progress of our project here each week, and we look forward to hearing from you about migration in your area or questions about what we are seeing on the Discussion Forum.

During the past 2 weeks, our biologists have been capturing northern pintails with rocket nets in the Central Valley of California. We've now marked 48 of the 52 female pintails we plan to mark with satellite transmitters, which is the largest number ever used at one time to study the migration of waterbirds. Most of the pintails will begin spring migration north in the few weeks. We expect some of the pintails will migrate to nest in Alaska and some will nest in Canada, especially in the Prairie Pothole region of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Some may even nest in California! We'll see if the pintails heading to different breeding areas move at different rates or use different areas in migration.