Waterfowl Breeding Habitat Conditions Update As of April 30, 2025

Waterfowl Breeding Habitat Conditions Update
As of April 30, 2025 

Delta Waterfowl closely monitors habitat conditions for breeding ducks across North America’s key regions throughout the year, but springtime when birds are arriving is most important. These are the days with the greatest impact on where birds will settle to nest and the eventual fall flight— that means hunting season!

Delta’s Duck Production, Research, and Habitat Conservation programs will always make the most of whatever the weather throws at us, but adequate water on the prairies is the greatest factor in success.

The current picture of wetland conditions remains mixed, at best. While some areas show modest improvement over last year and even last month, large portions of the prairie pothole region are much drier than is needed for the kind of strong nesting season that makes for an abundant fall flight.

For detailed analysis of conditions impacting all four flyways, don’t miss our Breeding Habitat Conditions Map, a Video presented by Delta Waterfowl and Fiocchi, and the accompanying comprehensive written analysis, below!

Conditions for breeding ducks ahead of a critical nesting and brood-rearing period remain mixed, at best, with large areas below fair—and even poor—thresholds for duck production.

Still, there are bright spots. April data and observations by Ryan Kroeger, Delta’s prairie-Canada-based regional biologist, indicate that Alberta and Saskatchewan have improved since last spring. Southeastern Alberta, in particular, looks promising.

But conditions for much of south-central Saskatchewan and southern, prairie Manitoba fall well below average. Dry conditions also persist for eastern Montana and sweep east across the critical eastern Dakotas—where April rains weren’t enough to offset drought—plus western Minnesota and Iowa.

Further, fewer ducks likely settled in the Dakotas compared to wetter years. Conditions could still turn around for birds that settled in the Dakotas though, as occurred in May 2024 when very similar conditions were on the landscape.

Shifting west of the PPR, the recently very dry Pacific Flyway’s conditions appear to be improving from central British Columbia to northern California. Consistent, timely rains plus snowmelt from the mountains are benefitting wetlands.

Lastly, wetland conditions in the East have stabilized after a relatively dry winter. Much of New England is trending in the right direction following April’s severe storms. And the continued good-to-excellent conditions for northeastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces should help eastern Canada’s nesting ducks.

—Mike Buxton, waterfowl programs director, Delta Waterfowl