Birders tend to associate waterfowl migration with the cool, rainy weather of March or the cold, blustery days of November. On this warm, sunny afternoon, the conditions seemed to be too pleasant for ducks.
Indeed, back at Eagle Bluffs for a third week, a friend and I saw only a few dozen mallards, a dozen northern shovelers, a half-dozen coot and two pied-billed grebes; to be completely honest, we did see about 60 ducks on a secluded lake that were too distant to identify. An adult bald eagle and three red-tailed hawks were our concession sightings.
It has surely been an unusual fall migration in the Missouri River Valley. Early on, the floodplain was kept too dry to attract waterfowl and now, as marsh-lined channels, shallow lakes and flooded fields cover the refuge, migrants have been slow to arrive; one must conclude that the weather up north has been too mild to send them south or that they have simply used other migration rest stops. Could we be witnessing the effects of climate change or just a confluence of factors (natural and man-induced)?
