Written By: Hannah Riggs
Moist soil is one of the most important things when ducks make it to their new habitat. Well, moist soil can produce up to 2,000 pounds of seed per acre. That means that a single acre of moist soil can provide enough habitat for up to a thousand ducks per day. Not only does moist soil produce this much food for ducks, but it has its other benefits as well. The moist soil environments provide ducks with better nutrients and cover. The plants that thrive in moist soil environments provide greater benefits to the duck than non-moist areas. The plants have protein rich invertebrates which provide important nutrients for waterfowl that aid them in nesting, egg-laying, and molting.
Dan Prevost, a wildlife biologist with Delta Waterfowl, also knows this to be a very important aspect of a duck’s diet.
“Ducks need change as they reach this part of the southern flyaway. By the time, they get down here they have expended a lot of energy, and they are also going to start thinking about packing away some fat reserves for their trip back up north. They will depend on that fat reserve to get them through,” Prevost said.
However, the specifics of each duck’s diet depends on the different breed. “To be able to provide for all the needs for each duck, you need to cover all habitat types in a ten to a twelve-mile radius. However, a general rule of thumb is three miles,” Prevost said.
