Scott Farris
Well-known member
I missed it if anyone has posted about this yet. Last week Connecticut's Migratory Bird Program Leader sent out a request to not shoot the "brown" (young and hens) eiders this season, to help the eider population recover from getting hit hard by avian influenza this spring. It included an attachment, that I copied and pasted below:
Request for Connecticut Eider hunters to voluntary avoid shooting hens and young, brown eiders this season.
Following an unusual episode of mortality caused by avian influenza this spring, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) anticipates a decline in the number of common eiders in the St. Lawrence Estuary in 2023 and beyond. Many of these birds migrate south to winter in southern New England.
In order not to further jeopardize the situation of the species, CWS is calling on the cooperation of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island hunters to:
? reduce, on a voluntary basis, their harvest of common eiders for the 2022-23 season
? refrain from harvesting female common eiders or young. Females and young are brown in color while males are white and black
? For about 20 years, the population of Common Eiders nesting in Qu?bec?s colonies in the St. Lawrence Estuary has been stable. One of the reasons the population is not increasing is that recruitment (percentage of young in the population) is probably just sufficient to replace adult mortality (from natural causes and hunting).
In the spring of 2022, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) struck at some of the largest eider colonies in the estuary, and a non-exhaustive count of carcasses recovered allowed CWS to estimate that between 5 and 15% of nesting females died. Many nests were abandoned by the females, and very few cr?ches (groupings of adult females with their broods) were observed in the estuary. As a result, CWS biologists expect the number of young birds for 2022 to be particularly low and the population to be lower in the coming years.
While daily bag for eiders in the Atlantic Flyway states is currently limited to no more than three of which only one can be a hen, we are also asking Connecticut hunters to also voluntarily refrain from shooting ?brown? eider.
Southern New England is the wintering terminus for many eiders breeding in Canada. It is irresponsible to ask Canadian hunters to forgo harvesting hens and young birds only to have them shot when they arrive here.
In order to allow time for eiders to recover from the recent A.I. outbreak (the same one that decimated the Northeast poultry industry and caused egg prices to skyrocket) we are asking our responsible waterfowl hunters to also pass on the hens and young eiders that cross in front of their barrels this year.
Just one more thing lumped on our North East sea duck population.
Scott
Request for Connecticut Eider hunters to voluntary avoid shooting hens and young, brown eiders this season.
Following an unusual episode of mortality caused by avian influenza this spring, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) anticipates a decline in the number of common eiders in the St. Lawrence Estuary in 2023 and beyond. Many of these birds migrate south to winter in southern New England.
In order not to further jeopardize the situation of the species, CWS is calling on the cooperation of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island hunters to:
? reduce, on a voluntary basis, their harvest of common eiders for the 2022-23 season
? refrain from harvesting female common eiders or young. Females and young are brown in color while males are white and black
? For about 20 years, the population of Common Eiders nesting in Qu?bec?s colonies in the St. Lawrence Estuary has been stable. One of the reasons the population is not increasing is that recruitment (percentage of young in the population) is probably just sufficient to replace adult mortality (from natural causes and hunting).
In the spring of 2022, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) struck at some of the largest eider colonies in the estuary, and a non-exhaustive count of carcasses recovered allowed CWS to estimate that between 5 and 15% of nesting females died. Many nests were abandoned by the females, and very few cr?ches (groupings of adult females with their broods) were observed in the estuary. As a result, CWS biologists expect the number of young birds for 2022 to be particularly low and the population to be lower in the coming years.
While daily bag for eiders in the Atlantic Flyway states is currently limited to no more than three of which only one can be a hen, we are also asking Connecticut hunters to also voluntarily refrain from shooting ?brown? eider.
Southern New England is the wintering terminus for many eiders breeding in Canada. It is irresponsible to ask Canadian hunters to forgo harvesting hens and young birds only to have them shot when they arrive here.
In order to allow time for eiders to recover from the recent A.I. outbreak (the same one that decimated the Northeast poultry industry and caused egg prices to skyrocket) we are asking our responsible waterfowl hunters to also pass on the hens and young eiders that cross in front of their barrels this year.
Just one more thing lumped on our North East sea duck population.
Scott
