Suisun Marsh Waterfowl and Wildlife Studies
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Suisun Marsh provides critical habitat for wintering and breeding waterbirds in California. USGS WERC collaborates with the California Department of Water Resources to examine trends in bird declines and to assess the habitat factors driving long-term survival of waterfowl, rails, and other birds in this important area.
Gadwall ducklings in nest, Suisun Marsh, CA. (Credit: Sarah Peterson/USGS. Public domain.)
SUSTAINING SUISUN SPECIES
Suisun Marsh, California is the largest contiguous brackish water marsh in western North America, formed where the fresh water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta joins up with the salt water from San Francisco Bay. The marsh provides habitat to thousands of migratory and resident waterfowl and water birds, along with many other plants and animals. The importance of the Suisun Marsh, California, as a waterfowl-use area is widely known and has a long history.
But as of 2014, waterfowl abundance was below the Central Valley Joint Venture’s population objective for 300,000 ducks wintering in Suisun Basin, and well below the nearly 370,000 waterfowl that typically wintered there during the 1950s. Long-term population trends for dabbling ducks and geese are declining in Suisun Marsh, even after accounting for California-wide population trends, indicating that proportionately fewer dabbling ducks and geese are choosing to winter in Suisun Marsh than historically. Suisun Marsh also supports among the highest densities of breeding ducks in North America, and plays an important role in duck production within California.
With more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands lost, Suisun Marsh represents one of the last remaining contiguous wetland habitats in the state. In order to understand and manage water bird populations and habitats in Suisun Marsh, the California Department of Water Resources has partnered with the USGS WERC and other collaborators to these address information needs.
USGS WERC’s research in Suisun Marsh focuses on waterfowl nesting and movement ecology, but covers many elements of the Suisun ecosystem. Learn more about each major research area below, and explore recent results, publications, multimedia, and news related to the Suisun Marsh Waterfowl project by clicking on each tab.
Click here or the image below to learn more in our Waterfowl Ecology Story Map
Results that have been published so far from this project include the following:
- [Nesting] Ducklings leave the nest in the early morning, suggesting predator avoidance (Learn more - Publication - Download Research Spotlight)
- [Movement] Ducks in Suisun Marsh use less space and travel shorter distances than expected (Learn more - Publication - Download Research Spotlight)
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Date published: February 22, 2018Status: ActiveAvian Ecology and Multi-Species Habitat Use in Pacific Coast Estuaries
Waterbirds such as shorebirds, waders, and ducks depend on healthy and productive estuaries to “fuel up” for long distance migrations along the Pacific Flyway. Estuarine ecosystems include a mosaic of managed, natural, and restoring wetlands...
Contacts: Susan De La Cruz -
Date published: January 10, 2018Status: ActiveWestern States Cinnamon Teal Initiative
Cinnamon Teal are a relatively understudied and WERC scientists are working with agencies from seven other states collecting data on their ecology which will help inform distribution, movements and habitat use.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: October 30, 2017Status: ActiveWaterfowl Ecology in California and the Pacific Flyway
The Suisun Marsh and Central Valley in California offer some of the world’s most important wetland habitats for waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway. Mike Casazza and USGS WERC biologists are providing the science to support and evaluate waterfowl populations and habitat management in North America.
Contacts: Michael CasazzaAttribution: Ecosystems, Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: October 30, 2017Status: ActiveBreeding and Wintering Ecology of Waterfowl
Western U.S. wetlands provide critical habitat for wintering and breeding waterfowl in California. WERC's Dr. Josh Ackerman is working toward collecting data to understand factors influencing duck nest success, to improve and restore breeding habitat for resident duck populations in California, and understand composition of predator communities. To learn more about how USGS WERC is...
Contacts: Josh T Ackerman -
Date published: August 18, 2017Status: ActiveMovement Maps for Suisun Marsh Waterfowl and Waterbird Studies
Suisun Marsh is a critical habitat for wintering and breeding waterbirds in California. USGS is working with the California DWR to examine the trends in bird decline and to assess the habitat factors driving long-term survival of waterfowl, rails, and other birds in this important area.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center
Sitting ducklings: Timing of hatch, nest departure, and predation risk for dabbling duck broods
For ground‐nesting waterfowl, the timing of egg hatch and duckling departure from the nest may be influenced by the risk of predation at the nest and en route to wetlands and constrained by the time required for ducklings to imprint on the hen and be physically able to leave the nest. We determined the timing of hatch, nest departure, and...
Peterson, Sarah H.; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Herzog, Mark P.; Hartman, Christopher; Croston, Rebecca; Feldheim, Cliff L.; Casazza, Michael L. GPS tracking data reveals daily spatio-temporal movement patterns of waterfowl
BackgroundSpatio-temporal patterns of movement can characterize relationships between organisms and their surroundings, and address gaps in our understanding of species ecology, activity budgets, bioenergetics, and habitat resource management. Highly mobile waterfowl, which can exploit resources over large spatial extents, are excellent models to...
McDuie, Fiona; Casazza, Michael L.; Overton, Cory T.; Herzog, Mark P.; Hartman, C. Alex; Peterson, Sarah H.; Feldheim, Cliff L.; Ackerman, Joshua T. Duck nest depredation, predator behavior, and female response using video
Depredation plays an important role in determining duck nest success and predator and female duck behavior during nest depredation can influence nest fate. We examined depredation of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and gadwall (A. strepera) nests in Suisun Marsh, California, USA, in 2015–2016 with continuous infrared video monitoring to identify nest...
Croston, Rebecca; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Herzog, Mark P.; Kohl, Jeffrey D.; Hartman, C. Alex; Peterson, Sarah H.; Overton, Cory T.; Feldheim, Cliff L.; Casazza, Michael L. Spatiotemporal patterns of duck nest density and predation risk: a multi-scale analysis of 18 years and more than 10,000 nests
Many avian species are behaviorally-plastic in selecting nest sites, and may shift to new locations or habitats following an unsuccessful breeding attempt. If there is predictable spatial variation in predation risk, the process of many individuals using prior experience to adaptively change nest sites may scale up to create shifting patterns of...
Ringelman, Kevin M.; Eadie, John M.; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Sih, Andrew; Loughman, Daniel L.; Yarris, Gregory S.; Oldenburger, Shaun L.; McLandress, M. Robert
Waterfowl Ecology in Suisun Marsh and the Pacific Flyway
Learn about waterfowl research by scientists at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center.
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Date published: January 10, 2018Waterfowl Movement Maps in Real Time
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted several species of waterfowl with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed as an image every day.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Washington
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
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Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Utah
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Suisun, California
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Nevada
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Oregon
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
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Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Idaho
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
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Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in the Central Valley
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: January 10, 2018Telemetry of Cinnamon Teal Tagged in Colorado
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted Cinnamon Teal with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: October 30, 2017Telemetry of Shoveler along the Pacific Flyway
Scientists at WERC's Dixon Field station have fitted several different species of waterfowl with GPS backpacks. Using R, the telemetry locations are displayed on an image every two weeks.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center
Outreach at the 2018 Suisun Marsh Field Day
USGS biological science technician Andrea Mott (left) and science communicator Xochitl Rojas-Rocha (right) at the 2018 Suisun Marsh Field Day.
Percent Species Composition Hunter Harvested Waterfowl, Suisun Marsh
Percent species composition of hunter harvested waterfowl in Suisun Marsh (left panel) and California (right panel). Hunter harvest data from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's parts survey. Table from Ackerman et al. 2014.
Ackerman, JT, MP Herzog, GS Yarris, ML Casazza, E Burns, and JM Eadie. 2014. Chapter 5: Waterfowl ecology and management. Pages 103-132 and maps
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Mid winter population size indices for dabbling ducks
Mid-winter population size indices for dabbling ducks in Suisun Marsh during 1953 to 2009. Solid line illustrates the population trend and was estimated with a LOESS function. Mid-winter waterfowl data were collected by the California Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Suisun Marsh was not surveyed as part of the mid-winter waterfowl survey in
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Proportion of dabbling ducks wintering in Suisun Marsh
The proportion of dabbling ducks wintering in Suisun Marsh relative to the entire state of California during 1953 to 2009. Solid line illustrates the population trend and was estimated with a LOESS function. Mid-winter waterfowl data were collected by the California Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Suisun Marsh was not surveyed as part of the
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Date published: September 13, 2018Secrets of Suisun Marsh's Birds of Prey
Did you know that the USGS is studying raptors in California? Biologists with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center are hard at work in the field, learning more about the ecology of Northern Harriers and their interactions with migratory waterfowl of concern to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: June 8, 2018WERC Waterfowl Science at the 2018 Suisun Marsh Field Day
“If we find a duck with one of those, we say it’s wearing jewelry,” said a visitor, gesturing to the shining metal bands on the table. The bands in question were part of a USGS Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) outreach display at the 2018 Suisun Marsh Field Day in Suisun, CA.
Attribution: Western Ecological Research Center -
Date published: August 25, 2017Story from the Field: Ducks of Suisun Marsh
Suisun Marsh in summer is typically heavy with fog, mosquitoes, and biting flies, but the sun casts sharp light across the water, beating back the usual unpleasantness as WERC volunteer Brock Riggs wades toward a study site on an early July morning.
Attribution: Ecosystems, Western Ecological Research Center