While looking into the Santee NWR counts, I realized that I had not updated the larger MWI data in quite a while. It looks like that won't be a problem in the future. 2015 would appear to be the last year that this will be done on a national level. It has always been a state responsibility, but FWS has always provided a lot of support. As that declines, more and more states are opting out and/or greatly reducing their efforts. States in the Miss. Flyway are holding on for a while longer, but (for example) the AF is putting their resources into Seaducks and Brant for Harvest Management purposes.
Over time, I'll try to graph some wrap-ups of what it has told us about ducks in S.C., but the picture won't really be much of a surprise. Mallards left us in the early 80s and today is all about Gadwall, GW Teal, Shovelers, and (yes) Ring-Necks. I'm afraid that our share of the wintering birds in the Flyway has only shown signs of increasing for the Gadwall, though. As I've said, they are our opportunity. The GW would be, but they seem to be wintering further north more often. There are Rings, but the AF has not been increasing and our share of them has been pretty consistent except for part of the 80s.
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