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We had another year where we had to fill in for the vacant crew area in Montana in this year’s waterfowl surveys.Stephen Chandler and I were responsible for completing as much of the state survey area that we could fly before moving up to the southern Saskatchewan survey area, our normal survey area. But this is our third year in Montana… so maybe this is the new normal?
Once again, we had grand plans and a sampling scheme to cover the central and eastern parts of the state. The normal survey would take too long and delay our start in Saskatchewan, so we needed to prioritize the needs and get a representative sample that we could use to estimate the waterfowl populations across the state. However, mother nature had other plans…primarily, to end the drought in Montana during our survey!
From day one, we were forced to drop our planned transects because of rain and snow. Every day our plans changed, and we were forced to make changes on the “fly.” This year, we did see more of the western survey area of Montana, and the front range of the Rocky Mountains. A spectacular area with vast grasslands and water with a backdrop of snow-covered mountains.
Most of the state was under abnormally dry conditions in April with the southern and western mountains suffering from moderate to severe drought. Thankfully, by the end of May, conditions improved across much of Montana and the western mountains had even improved slightly, eliminating an area of extreme drought and shrinking areas of severe drought.
Montana is a beautiful state and underrated when it comes to waterfowl production and recruitment, although this year that may suffer a bit.
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