Mary Jo Veskrna of Blair, Neb., enjoys taking her grandchildren, 2-year-old Henry and 4-year-old Olivia, to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.
Just earlier than the brand new 12 months, they checked out the customer’s heart.
“It’s so child pleasant. I do not ever have to fret about them moving into bother or breaking something,” Veskrna stated.
During their visits, they like seeing the creatures present in almost 8,400 acres filled with bushes, prairie and wetlands. But this time round, one thing was lacking.
“I really thought that the lake would be filled with birds because it’s all open. It’s not frozen,” Veskrna said. “And in the past, the count usually depended on how much open water there was.”
The refuge noticed fewer waterfowl within the fall and early winter. Manager Tom Cox estimates about half as many as regular seasons. Some lastly confirmed up in December.
“Birds tend to follow the habitat, and with this kind of region-wide drought, they’re probably skirting around where they’re finding better habitat during their migration,” Cox said.
Because it was so dry, the refuge couldn’t flood as much land as usual to attract ducks, geese and swans on their way to warmer spots south.
“Conditions are a little bit harder this year, but it’ll bounce back,” Cox said. “And this drought will give us conditions that will actually make our habitat better in the future.”
Cox says that with a part of the protect’s wetlands all dried up, crews might eliminate vegetation undesirable for attracting migrating birds by discing them away with gear.
“Wetlands evolve over time, and they become full of perennial plants, and perennials don’t produce a lot of food. So, you have to set back succession,” Cox said. “And once you do that, they start producing annual plants. And that’s the food producers; they produce a lot of seed.”
With extra to eat and the potential for higher climate, Cox isn’t overly apprehensive in regards to the future.
“We’ve been through droughts before, and we’ve seen these numbers drop before,” he said. “Next year, we could be right back in a wet cycle and see our numbers go through the roof.”
And though birdwatching wasn’t ideally suited throughout this go to, Mary Jo Veskrna nonetheless plans to make common journeys with the household to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.
“I assume we hope for extra moisture subsequent 12 months, and possibly we’ll have extra birds,” she stated.
