What effect is this winter going to have.

Probably nothing. Reason I say that is we have apparently had great hatches and higher than usual numbers of the past few season yet here in WI many of us haven't notice the "great" increase. Spoke with people in Canada who said they have never seen so many birds(2013 season), well they sure didn't stop here.

If the ducks fly up here and hit ice they will more than likely back track to where they can survive. As far as breeding, only time will tell if it warms up quick enough otherwise we may have a late hatch. I don't see the melting snow floods causing much problems. Where I have seen floods wipe out hatches are the spring rain floods. When the birds fly up and encounter the snow melt floods they will nest where they can, its the floods that happen after nesting that have the biggest impact. If a bird bases its nesting site around the snow flood the waters could recede leaving it more vulnerable to predation, but they still have a better chance than if on top of the snow melt they get heavy spring rains causing the waters to rise and take out the nest.

There has also been some "positive" talk of the ice on the great lakes an other regions as they have apparently been down in water levels. Talk is when all this melts it will help replenish the levels which may also leed to having better water conditions in marshes around those areas.

That's my backyard opinion. I bet where I hunt I will not see a decline in how the hunting is.

As for a biologist on this board, this place has died out fast from when it started. Aside from the very few of us that post.

The divers that are died on the lakes and the ones that will continue to loose there lives on there may not even come close to the blue bills and redhead we loose each year in the spring to disease. Every spring our shore lines have dead divers all over them. Its very sad to see but still has not impacted the species as a whole, well hasn't really changed out limits at least and we still see plenty of those species.

Also look at the snows migration, there are doing jus fine following the snow line up as usual. May not directly correlate to the ducks migration but if they are doing fine it may be safe to assume others shouldn't have too much of an issue returning to the north to breed.

Would be nice if the melting snow and rising water level actually lead to a better hatch and more places for the birds to feed and rest. If we have a wet spring, drought free summer ,and the weather cooperates with the season dates it could be a banner year.

The freezing on lake Michigan has made for some great diver duck watching along the lake front here in Milwaukee. They are concentrated in whatever open water they can find. Things are really starting t open up now though. A few weeks ago Gillespie was fishing in the harbor at Port Washington on his TV show and I saw flock after of flock of ducks flying by in the background.

Yeah it's been really tough on the divers who typically stay up here. The humane society/wildlife rehab society in Milw typically gets a few divers in each winter. This year they have had well over 50. Someone just brought in another red breasted merganser that was found on a sidewalk today. They have a small flock of bluebills and a bunch of oter birds in there right now. In fact they are begging for food donations for the ducks.They are going through 25lb blocks of frozen smelt and canned clams left and right.

It's an article from Delta Waterfowl about this winter and its affect on waterfowl. You can donate to Delta Waterfowl though. Personally they are one of my favorite waterfowl organizations.

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A couple of pics I snapped from the Lake Michigan shoreline. Click to see larger size.