Discovery for Recovery - An International Pintail Recovery Initiative 

U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, California Waterfowl Association, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited's Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research,

Tuscany Research Institute

Microwave Telemetry PTT100 satellite tracking, GIS ArcInfo and SAS software

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Pintail birds

Northern pintails were very abundant in North America, but their status had deteriorated over the last 30 years due to long droughts in the 1970's and 1980's. In contrast, all other species of prairie nesting dabbling ducks rebounded to average or above average population sizes. The aim was to more fully understand pintail population dynamics and determine the factors limiting pintail recovery so that useful conservation strategies could be applied.

Ultimately, waterfowl managers needed to understand the effects of winter and spring migration habitat quality, relative to nesting habitat quality and extent, on body condition of nesting pintail hens, settling patterns and habitat selection across nesting regions, and production of young ducks. The first step in this effort was to identify spring migration routes and critical staging areas where pintails acquire nutrients prior to arrival in nesting regions on the prairies and in Alaska. Further, managers needed to identifythe distribution patterns of pintails relative to May Pond abundance and distribution and to the location of May Survey strata. Postnesting distribution needed to be known to link molting lakes with specific nesting regions, measure population exposure rates to perennial botulism lakes, and assess efficiency of operational banding sites in representing pintail breeding distribution. These data were needed for drought and wet years where most pintails nest, including the prairies of southern Canada and the northern Great Plains in the U.S. (North and South Dakota, eastern Montana, western Minnesota), and in Alaska and other northern areas.

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