©Bert Gildart: Ten thousand years ago huge glaciers covered an area now known as the Coteau Hills. At the time these sheets of ice towered 300-feet high, and had anyone been present in the area, they must have been an impressive sight to behold.

But now, several thousands years after they’ve receded, what is left in their wake is equally as impressive. Over the eons they created a system of prairie pot holes which forms the foundation of life for over 500 species of insects, 200 different species of plants-and over 200 species of birds. Among the birds are literally thousands of ducks.

CRANKING OUT DUCKS

“That’s what prairie potholes and these grasslands are all about,” said Mike Checkett of Ducks Unlimited, one of the biologists conducting a small group of outdoor writer hang-ons. “They’re areas that just crank out the ducks.”

Our group consisted of about 15, and we were all writers who had a specific interest in prairies, prairie potholes and in the vast number of species they produce. Knowing of our collective interest, Ducks Unlimited provided us with a tour, and they selected what may be some of the nation’s very best habitat. Each year this region produces hundreds of thousands of new ducklings, in part because of a deal they’ve worked out with local farmers. Landowners are paid not to plow their land before mid-July and the total sum is a hefty one totally $90M.

Called the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP for short), monies for the program are derived from the sale of Duck Stamps, banquets, and a host of other program.

DUCK SOUP

Not all lands qualify for inclusion into CRP, but the lands we toured yesterday certainly were and that was part of what biologists explained, starting with the basics. Jennifer, another of the biologists, began with what she called “duck soup,” saying it consisted of damsel flies and dragon flies, mosquito larva, copepods–and other esoteric creatures such names as water boatmen. “They’ve got an interesting life history,” said Jennifer. “First they inject a fluid into their prey, then they suck out the contents.

As we continued our tour, we stopped at several erratics, rocks that were shoved onto the prairie by a terminal moraine. In turn, they attracted bison, which have used them for thousands of years as “rubbing rocks.”

“You can tell that so,” said Mike, “by examining the smooth sides. Almost like glass, isn’t it?”

STAKING OUT NESTS

The biologists had gone to much trouble preparing for our arrival, staking out the nests of waterfowl. They said that ducks were unlike some birds and would return to incubate even if their nests were disturbed. Prior to our arrival they’d located the nests of gadwalls, pintails, canvasbacks, and buffleheads.

And then they took us to the nests and here, Mike reached in a picked up one of the eggs and examined it with a magnifying glass. “Look here,” he said. “See where these lines cross? That’s the embryo and from these lines we can age it. This egg has been incubated for about a week and has got about three more to go.”

The egg was but one of thousands, and when added together number in the hundreds of thousands. And all because of the Conservation Reserve Program, which helps farmers, which helps hunters and bird lovers in general.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 5:59 am and is filed under Natural History/Conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.