You could call the INHS’s final winter aerial waterfowl survey an odd duck

Refitted file photo from the Illinois Natural History Survey’s aerial waterfowl inventories. (Illinois Natural History Survey)

Joshua Osburn reported from the Illinois Natural History Survey’s final winter aerial waterfowl survey on Monday. Among the things noted by Osburn, waterbird ecologist for the INHS, noted were a surprising number of canvasbacks along Pool 19 and the opening up in the milder conditions along both the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The survey breakdowns are attached as PDFs below.