Harvest management, Monitoring, Species status assessment
Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey
1955-2019
Status
Completed

States

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

The Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey was a nationwide effort to survey waterfowl in areas of major concentration on their wintering grounds and provide winter distribution and habitat affiliations. This survey also served as a primary source of data on population trends for some species that breed in remote Arctic locations and were difficult to survey using traditional methods. Therefore, abundance indices for some of these species were obtained from surveys on wintering areas. For species not covered in other population surveys these indices provided direct inputs into management programs such as harvest management plans.  Most of these species-specific winter surveys still exist and those time series can be found in Flyway Data Books.

The Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey was discontinued as a nationwide effort after 2015, but data were still collected through 2019 as some States transitioned out, and some continued "winter surveys" to current day (available from those States).  To obtain Mid-winter Waterfowl Survey data, please visit the Flyway's FileShare website.

For more information on the population status of waterfowl, please visit the Waterfowl Population Status Reports library collection.

News

Sandhill Cranes flying over the Refuge from a distance.
Migratory Bird Annual Status Reports 
Annual migratory bird population status reports are posted each year in early September. Highlighted species include waterfowl, American woodcock, mourning dove, band-tailed pigeon, and sandhill Crane. The annual Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest Report is also included.
Story
Migratory Species
Northern Pintail in flight over wetland
A New Era for Pintail Regulations
A new interim harvest strategy introduces changes to Northern pintail hunting regulations, shaped by decades of research and long-term population monitoring. Explore how this science-based approach is being used to guide decisions that balance hunting opportunities with the conservation of pintail...
Story
Migratory Species
A long-necked duck with a brown head and a white neck and long tail feathers swims on a body of water.
Northern Pintail Telemetry
An exciting partnership in the Central Flyway is using GPS telemetry to unravel the mysteries about Northern pintail migration, breeding, and wintering patterns across North America.
Story
Our Partners

Contact

Tom Cooper
Staff Profile
Migratory Bird Program Central Flyway Representative
Pat Devers
Staff Profile
Migratory Bird Program Atlantic Flyway Representative
Dave Scott
Staff Profile
Migratory Bird Program Mississippi Flyway Representative
Steve Olson
Staff Profile
Pacific Flyway Representative Assistant

Programs

A large bird with brown feathers, white head, and yellow beak flies against a pale blue sky
The Migratory Bird Program works with partners to protect, restore and conserve bird populations and their habitats for the benefit of future generations by: ensuring long-term ecological sustainability of all migratory bird populations, increasing socioeconomic benefits derived from birds,...
Program
Washington,DC

Partners

Species