The North American Waterfowl Management Plan is a historic agreement that was signed in 1986 between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service.  This cooperative agreement set a course of action for waterfowl management that has been attributed to increasing waterfowl populations.

Waterfowl are classified as ducks, geese, and swans.  Characteristics include large bills, webbed feet, rounded bodies, and long necks.  Typically, adult male birds are brightly colored while females are drab in appearance. 

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Ducks are further separated into diving, dabbling, and perching ducks. 

• Diving ducks.  Divers prefer open, deep water and feed on submergent plants and aquatic insects. Species of diving ducks include ring-necked ducks, lesser scaup, redheads, canvasbacks, common goldeneye, buffleheads, hooded merganser, common merganser, and ruddy duck.  They characteristically run along the water surface to become airborne. 

• Dabbling ducks.  Dabblers prefer pond or river habitats, and feed by “tipping up” in water 6 to 12 inches deep.  Typical foods are emergent and floating vegetation, and aquatic insects.  Dabbling ducks include mallards, black ducks, northern shovelers, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, gadwall, northern pintail, and American widgeon.  Unlike divers, dabblers can take off vertically from land or water.

• Perching ducks.  Like dabbling ducks, perching ducks prefer pond or river habitat, and feed by “tipping up” in water 6 to 12 inches deep.  The wood duck is a perching duck commonly found wetlands throughout most of the United States.  The woodie’s habitat preferences are closely akin to dabbling ducks with the exception of nesting in tree cavities. 

In terms of developing a wildlife enterprise, the most common species of interest is the mallard.  Mallards are the most widely-distributed waterfowl species and account for 15% of the total duck population in the United States.  Also, mallards have a wide migration window compared to other ducks, and therefore provide more hunting opportunity for a wildlife enterprise.  The life history portion of this module will focus on mallards, though habitat needs will be described broadly for waterfowl including mallards.

Some wildlife enterprises maintain a resident population of mallards and train them to fly to feeding areas.  To ensure a successful hunt, they offer their clientele hunting opportunities with wild birds in the morning and resident birds in the afternoon (giving the wild birds a rest).  However, some states such as Arkansas have recently placed a moratorium on this practice.  Concerns include resident mallards harboring diseases that are transferred to wild birds, and the inability to distinguish between wild and domestic mallards when enforcing game laws.  If maintaining a resident population is something you want to consider, check state regulations first.  The Information Sources section lists sample web sites with additional information about procedures, tips, and books about propagating game birds.