Gadwalls expanding their range?

Cody Williams

Cody Williams

Well-known member
Hey guys, I have noticed while reading other guy's posts that you Eastern guys seem to be seeing more gaddies than usual. They are really common here in Utah but talking to the old timers they were very rarely seen around here until about 10-15 years ago, and then they started showing up in greater and greater numbers every year. Do you think that weather patterns are causing them to migrate down different routes, or are they expanding their range? Seems interesting, I was reading that canvasbacks really expanded their range west and south when the Chesapeake Bay celery beds started dying off, and I was wondering if something similar could be happening with the gaddies.
 
CRP has been very good for Gadwalls, along with Teal and Shovelers. Not sure they are expanding as much as there are just a lot more of them then there were 20 years ago. I'm sure they are wintering in some areas that they passed by before just because there are more of them.

More recently it seems like the idea of 'traditional' wintering grounds has changed. Ducks will alter their routes to better habitat if it is there. Some very traditional diver lakes in the north have lost a lot of their fall flight and it would make you believe the numbers are lies if you just look at those few places. Aging/changing lakes and marshes can become better or worse with time. So they could very well be expanding the fall and wintering grounds they use but they aren't really expanding since they were already nationwide, maybe just not as concentrated.

Tim
 
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Just in my lifetime I have seen areas that were once very productive dry up to the point where it isn't even worth hunting. A lot of that has to do with urban sprawl but also traditional food sources seeming to disappear. The birds change their migration habits for sure based on where there is food and a good place to rest.

As far as the gadwall there were a few areas I would hunt from time to time where you would have a decent shot at bagging one or two but this season was crazy. I think I bagged more gadwall this season than mallards, or at least as many. The area I was seeing them in I had shot two last season total. This year when the conditions were right we were decoying flocks of 20! Not sure what changed but it was a hot topic at the ramp and among friends.
 
Cody

North Alabama has long been a place where Gadwall have come to winter. It started when Eurasian Millfoil become thick on the Tennessee River on Lake Guntersville. We still have a lot of gadwall but their numbers have significantly dropped in my opinion, especially this year. My gadwall kill (along with hunting partners) this year was the lowest I can recall in the past 20+ years. I saw less milfoil on the lake this year than ever and guess that correlates with fewer gadwall, along with pressure from hunters a lot of it in the form of mud motors not giving them as much rest.

However, there has been a steady upward trend in diving ducks, particularly redheads and cans. Vallisneria is spreading on the lake and possibly displacing milfoil in some areas. Seeing as how it is a preferred food for cans and reds I attribute it to the increase in divers. So much so I fully expect the harvest of redheads and cans surpassed gadwall, and if you throw in ringnecks it's no contest, more divers than puddlers are taken on the lake now.

So basically what I'm saying is the range might not necessarily be increasing, but it is changing and food and rest are the drivers for that change.

Craig

You mentioned urban sprawl. In all honesty urban sprawl has not cost me many places to hunt waterfowl since I started in 1982. Some, of course, but if I combine urban sprawl, PETA, anti-hunters, Duck Dynasty, etc. etc. all of it doesn't even come close to the loss of waterfowl hunting opportunity alligatorweed and water primrose have cost me. Invasive aquatic plants have wiped out many places that were great waterfowling spots.
 
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Very interesting on the aquatic vegetation issues you have down there Eric. The local area that I hunt mostly has only grown in popularity for people moving to the Jersey shore and building more and more homes on rivers and bays turning areas into safety zones. Couple that with the growing popularity of recreational clamming, which coincides with duck season, it has really changed the way birds rest and feed.

In the past we would hunt the tidal sand bars and mud flats as the birds would come out like clockwork to feed on the clam seeds and steamer clams. Recreational clamming was opened and for the first couple seasons it wasn't very popular and the birds stayed in their usual pattern. The growth of the internet and sharing spots and where to go get clams made many areas very popular and soon the clammers outnumbered the duck hunters. It was very touchy at times when you would be out hunting and have someone decide to clam your decoy spread. To make a long story short, on any given day there are a dozen to three dozen people out walking around on what was once large feeding areas for local waterfowl. The birds have learned that area is not a safe place to go to rest or feed so when they do make a push into the area, they very quickly leave for greener pastures.

My other theory in our part of the state is that many of the tidal bays and rivers were very muddy, similar to what you find off the Delaware Bay. This mud must have been nutrient-rich in that the grasses and mussels, etc. thrived and the waterfowl followed. In the 90s beach replenishment started by the Army Corp of Engineers pumping sand onto the beaches to make them larger and to protect seaside towns (We are currently going through a round of this due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy). That sand migrates along the coast from the tides and storms and ends up in the rivers. The rivers that were once muddy and nutrient-rich are now sandy and many of the islands and mussel beds are being choked out and dying off. All of this plays a role.
 
Cody, this is interesting that you brought this up because this seemed to be the "gadwall" year for me. In the areas that I hunt I know I'll see mallards/Mexicans, widgeons, gwts, woodies, gadwalls and shovelers. Most of the birds taken were gaddies.
Al
 
Gadwalls are darn Fine ducks, and the more of them the merrier. I've never been to the West coast, but have hunted them in 3 flyways. Very handsome birds, and good table fare as well. I do need to make a few for my rig, as every Gadwall I ever made found another home. More Wigeon here than Gadwalls, but 2 or 3 Grey ducks in the rig look good.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Seems like they have always been nationwide but there are more and more of them. I'm personally glad to see that as more ducks is always a good thing!
 
Cody, this is interesting that you brought this up because this seemed to be the "gadwall" year for me. In the areas that I hunt I know I'll see mallards/Mexicans, widgeons, gwts, woodies, gadwalls and shovelers. Most of the birds taken were gaddies.
Al




Al, from what I gather your area of New Mexico is a major wintering area for lots of birds that are hatched in the Great Salt Lake marshes-it's pretty cool that you and I have likely hunted the same ducks at some point!
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I can say that especially over the past 5 years we have been seeing more and more of them. Prior to that they were extremely rare in Western NY. This year we shot 6. Maybe its population, maybe its food, maybe its a combination of the two. Either way I hope they keep doing what they are doing. I think they are beautiful birds. They have some real nice feathers for my trout flies also.
 
i just read an article about the gadwall not long ago about how in the 1950's you were lucky to even see a bird now they are all over the places. i beleive ducks unlimited had the article im sure if you google it wont be hard to find. they had the statstics and a graph showing how much the population has greatened since the 50's.I have yet to connect with a gadwall but my buddy killed a beautiful drake a few days before season closed on new jersey coastal. but it makes since for me more birds more competition for food the ducks will spread out to find food so they are migrating farther. maybe the gadwall will be the new mallard or canada goose.
same topic diffrent bird the black duck i killed or saw a black duck every time i went out this year and the icing on the cake was my last hunt of the year on the coastal zone of new jersey hundreds of black ducks sitting on the ice, swimming, or flying it was crazy how many of the elusive black ducks i saw on that 1 hunt. after all is said im not complaining and im not going to say they should raise the daily bag limits more ducks i see in the air on a hunt the better.
 
Hey Chris, yes you are correct about Black numbers on the rise. We are tied to Canada's bag numbers, hence the 1 black in the days take for us in the states.
 
Gadwalls seem to have replaced the Mallards over the last 20 yrs in Central Texas. Every year we see a larger percentage of the gray duck and less of the greenhead. What used to be green has now been replaced with gray.

One of our state Bio's told me that Gadwall will probably be the duck of the 21st century for our state/flyway.

Overall, this duck season seems to have been the year of the Gadwall and GWT.
 
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Here's a related question: why have mallards been the most plentiful duck for at least the last century or so? Are they more adaptable than other species? Do they have higher nesting success? Can they use resources that other ducks can't?
 
I wonder if its like rabbits how they run on a with the population being year 1 berry high in a certain area and through a 3 year period you can see a decline in the population then on the 4th year it back at a max population. Or does it all go back in to the "carrying capacity" as to what the area environment and food source can handle? Knowledge is power.
 
Cody,
About 3 years ago I shot a banded drake gadwall. It was banded in the Great Salt Lake basin area. You are correct in that assumption. We get a lot of wintering ducks down here. That is why I am always hoping that you miss a few so that they can make it down here.

Here is a pic for you. This one was just having a good old time at the Refuge.
Al

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Nice picture Al. For a "nondescript" duck, they are pretty spectacular. And painting a gray duck decoy is not a simple proposition.

I can't really answer the question of why are mallards the most abundant duck (I assume you mean dabbler). They always have been. They are extremely plastic in their habitat selection and are widespread. They are the focus of much of the monitoring and management program because of their abundance, desirability as a sport/table bird, and continental range.
 
Saw more gaddies this year than years previous, and less green as previously noted.
Past 11 years of hunting the MS delta never saw the grey duck..this year it was 80% our bag, over multiple hunts
 
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