Game and Furbearer Program Summary Report – 2025
Game and Furbearer Program Summary Report – 2025
Annual Waterfowl Surveys
Migratory Game Bird Banding and Research
DESCRIPTION: As part of the Atlantic Flyway, the NCWRC annually carries out several waterfowl surveys on ducks and swans win- tering in coastal North Carolina. The mid-winter waterfowl survey is a fixed-wing aerial survey conducted annually in cooperation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) that estimates numbers of wintering tundra swans and additional surveys count adult and juvenile swans to determine annual productivity. Also, NCWRC biologists collaborate with others in the Atlantic Flyway to conduct a Sea Duck Fecundity Survey, focused on areas of importance to wintering sea ducks along the coast, with survey photos used to classify birds into three cohorts: adult male, adult female, and juvenile.
DESCRIPTION: The Migratory Game Bird Coordinator and Waterfowl Biologist worked closely and collaborated with WRC staff to capture and band many species of migratory game birds. Wood ducks, mourning doves, and mallards are priority species for this work. As part of our long-term monitoring efforts, agency staff continue to capture and band wood ducks each summer, July-September. When combined with similar efforts by other state wildlife agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the data obtained from these efforts and hunter band recoveries provide critical information (harvest and survival rates) needed to monitor and manage North Carolina’s migratory game birds. KEY RESULTS:
• WRC staff captured and banded 365 wood ducks statewide. Forty-nine wood ducks banded in North Carolina were recovered this year from hunters from six states (AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC). Eighty-eight percent of band recoveries were from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. • WRC staff captured and banded 1,126 mourning doves. This represents a decrease of 21% from the previous year’s total and is 16% below the annual banding goal of 1,345 doves. Most doves (82%) were banded in districts 4, 5 and 6. • Thirty-four 34 hen mallards were captured on Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Cur- rituck County, with 21 being fitted with GPS/GSM transmitters and 4 marked with geo-locator leg bands. Eighteen of the 21 hens marked with transmitters survived the winter and migrated north in the spring to locations ranging from New Brunswick to Manitoba and throughout the states and provinces in between. This brings the total number of mallard hens marked in North Carolina during this project to 106. A fifth and final year of trapping will be conducted in 2026 with at least 10 additional transmitters to be deployed.
Mid-winter survey counts of Tundra Swans wintering in North Carolina and across the total Eastern Popula- tion Tundra Swan wintering range, 2001-2025.
Comparison of known-age banded doves: After hatch year (AHY) adults vs. Hatch year (HY) juveniles, 2003-2024.
KEY RESULTS: • Staff observed 45,000 tundra swans wintering across coastal North Carolina this year. This was 52% higher than in 2024 but 29% lower than the long-term average. The total mid-winter survey count of eastern population tundra swans in all states was 76,046, a 20% increase from the previous year’s count. • Tundra swan productivity surveys conducted in Fall 2024 estimated 10.8% young (n=18,748), which is slightly higher than the 2023 estimate (9.6%) but 17% lower than the long-term average (2001-2024: 13%). • Sea duck survey photos from North Carolina were combined with photos from other states and analyzed to generate an age-ratio for the Atlantic Flyway population of sea ducks. An average of 15,000 photos are classified annually. HOW IS THIS INFORMATION USED FOR REGULATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: Information from these surveys is directly tied to waterfowl hunting regulations in North Carolina. The number of tundra swan hunting permits available each year in North Car- olina is determined from the 3-year average of the mid-winter survey counts. Based on the 2025 survey, the 3-year running average of tundra swans observed in the Atlantic flyway remains within the 70,000-110,000 range and so there will be no change to the num- ber of permits allocated to hunt states for the 2026-27 hunting season. Also, North Carolina’s tundra swan productivity survey serves as a long-term index of age-structure as an important population parameter for monitoring population changes. Furthermore, data from the sea duck photo survey is used in sea duck population modeling, or for use in correcting annual estimates of United States Fish and Wildlife Service Parts Collection Data, a component of the federal Harvest Information Program (HIP).
Number of wood ducks banded pre-season in North Carolina, 1992-2024
HOW IS THIS INFORMATION USED FOR REGULATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: NCWRC’s involvement in banding and research ensures that the agency contributes to the knowledge and management of migratory game bird populations and hunting. Data from wood duck banding provides critical information (harvest and survival rates) that is needed for monitoring wood duck pop- ulations and setting hunting regulations. Similarly, dove banding information directly informs a harvest strategy used to guide hunt- ing seasons in the Eastern Dove Management Unit, which includes all dove hunting states east of the Mississippi river. The Eastern Mallard Ecology project will continue to shed additional light on the complex reasons behind mallard declines.
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