Aquatic Bird Hunting in Florida To identify ducks and other aquatic game birds and migratory waterfowl in Florida, go to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's waterfowl hunting web site. To hunt ducks in Florida, anyone over the age of 16 is required to obtain a: - Florida Hunting License ($???), - Florida Waterfowl Permit ($3.50) - Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Federal Duck Stamp - $15.00). There are three duck hunting seasons in Florida: . . . Early: September 20 - September 24 . . . 1st Phase: November 19 - November 27 . . . 2nd Phase: December 10 - January 29

Ducks are particularly reclusive and wary, needing quiet, out-of-the-way aquatic habitat for resting, feeding and breeding. Much effort is taken by government agencies to assure that duck populations are protected and also that duck hunters are satisfied.

Aquatic plant management also takes into account the needs of ducks and duck hunters (see below). Before any invasive aquatic plant control is conducted, the DEP coordinates with FWCC to identify waters in which the presence of waterfowl and hunters would be likely.

In areas frequented by waterfowl, invasive plant control strategies, such as amount and timing, are designed to be compatible with waterfowl-related activities. For examples, hydrilla is controlled in order to allow native submersed plants to recolonize; dense cattail and floating tussocks are controlled in order to create open-water refuges required of certain waterbird species; hydrilla control is delayed until after duck hunting season concludes.

About a quarter of the state's hunters are bird hunters and they generate about 1/10th of the total amount spent on hunting in the state. There are about 64,000 bird hunters in Florida, including tourist hunters; 20,677 Federal Duck Stamps were sold for the 2003 season.

Bird hunters spend about $34 million per year on their sport in Florida. (Bird watchers far outnumber bird hunters, and contribute about 32 times more money to the state's economy.)

Several factors contribute to their being fewer ducks migrating to and inhabiting Florida each year, including:

Habitat loss to agriculture and development in the northern U.S. and Canada, filling in prairie pot holes and other breeding sites;

Severe drought in the northern U.S. and Canada;

Severe drought in Florida in the 1990s and 2000s;

Draining and developing Florida's wetlands; and

Development along the shores of Florida's lakes and rivers.

Habitat loss is most likely the single greatest threat to duck populations in the United States. What happens to wetlands in other states directly impacts how many ducks migrate to Florida. When breeding grounds are destroyed in Minnesota, then there won't be as many ducks wintering in Florida. Likewise, when wetlands are destroyed in Florida, then there will be fewer places for ducks to land and more hunters concentrated in fewer places to hunt.

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Ducks and Hydrilla and Preferred Duck Foods Ducks need aquatic plants. However there are some misconceptions as to what types of aquatic plants are beneficial to ducks. For thousands of years, ducks and other migratory water birds have come to Florida for the winter. They fed on eelgrass (Vallisneria), pondweeds (Potamogeton), duck potatoes (Sagittaria) and other plentiful, native, aquatic plants. Then, in the 1960s non-native hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) was introduced and invaded Florida's waters, quickly displacing and greatly reducing the abundance of eelgrass, pondweeds, duck potatoes and other plant duck foods. During the past 40 years, with hydrilla on the increase and ducks having to consume hydrilla instead of preferred native plants, confusion has developed among duck hunters and others about the value of hydrilla to ducks. Ducks eat a variety of wetland plants and their diets change according to what food is available. When a historic duck lake has been taken over by hydrilla, and there is no other convenient plant food available, ducks will eat hydrilla leaves, turions and tubers. But this does not mean that ducks prefer hydrilla, or that hydrilla should be allowed to grow unchecked for the "benefit" of ducks. Management decisions based on science have made plant management against hydrilla now an essential function of government. Refusal by plant managers to allow hydrilla to become the dominant aquatic plant in the state is not just for the benefit of ducks, but also for the benefit of our native aquatic plants and other native animals, for the benefit of our aquatic ecosystems as a whole, and for the benefit of our people and industries. Please see other parts of this web site to learn more about the whys and wherefores of aquatic plant management in Florida. Preferred Plant Duck Foods in Florida Waters Some migratory aquatic birds, including ducks, are mostly vegetarian, some are mostly carnivorous, and some eat both plants and animals. Wetland plant matter is very important to the diets of American wigeon, ring-necked ducks, redheads, gadwalls, rails, mallards, pintails, wood ducks and canvasbacks, whistling ducks, green- and blue-winged teal, coots, moorhen, soras, Canada geese, snow geese, greylag geese, sandhill cranes, mourning doves and others. Among the native aquatic plants that are especially important to ducks and other water birds in Florida are: the submersed plants of these genera: Ceratophyllum, Chara, Najas, Potamogeton, Ruppia, Utricularia, and Vallisneria; the tallish emersed plants of these genera: Carex, Cladium, Crinum, Cyperus, Distichlis Echinochloa, Eleocharis, Eriocaulon, Fimbrystilis, Juncus, Leersia, Panicum, Paspalum, Phragmites, Polygonum, Pontederia, Rhynchospora, Sacciolepis, Scirpus, Spartina, Typha, Xyris, Zizaniopsis and Zizania; and the floating and floating-leaved plants of these genera: Brasenia, Lemna, Nelumbo, Nymphaea, Spirodela, and Wolffia. For more information about wild duck foods, please refer to this article.

In certain places in Florida, aquatic plant management takes into account the needs of ducks and duck hunters, including selectively managing for certain plant species, as well as timing plant management activities according to plant growth stage and duck hunting season.

On Lake Okahumpka and other prime duck-hunting lakes in Florida, duck hunters help design the aquatic plant management program. For example, cattail management is done in such a way so as to create open areas for duck feeding while retaining some cattail areas so that ducks, and hunters, can hide.

Similarly, hydrilla management in duck hunting lakes is done in such a way so as to retain some hydrilla for duck food while managers gradually, over the years, select for native submersed food plants (that hydrilla has smothered out). Eventually, hydrilla will be under maintenance control and ducks will have their preferred native food plants again, plants such as eelgrass, pondweeds and sagitarrias.

While ducks use aquatic plants as food sources and hiding places, they also require open water areas. If a waterbody or wetland area is covered with plants, ducks will find somewhere else to land.

A study in North Dakota to measure duck population density in relation to changes in wetland vegetation coverage showed that ducks prefer some plant coverage, but not complete coverage.

In the study, several plots of wetland were treated with differing levels of herbicide to remove dense stands of cattail. One plot remained untreated, the second was 50% treated, the third 70% treated, and the last 90% treated. At the end of the two year study, more ducks were observed on the 50% treated plot than were observed on any other plot. The untreated plot had too many plants and not enough open water, whereas the 70% and 90% treated plots had too few plants and too much open water.

Extremely menacing hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) is not the only plant that ducks can utilize. Native plants such as pondweeds, eelgrass, duck potatoes, grasses, sedges, and rushes can adequately provide food and shelter for any species of duck.

For thousands of years before hydrilla invaded Florida, ducks ate, and still prefer, our native aquatic plants.