Please note that use of drones on Madison Audubon property is strictly prohibited, unless express permission is granted for research purposes.

This summer a group of students from UW Stevens Point (UWSP) were conducting a duck productivity research under the direction of Professor Ben Sedinger, the waterfowl professor at UWSP. The students included Megan Seidl, Jacob Tepsa, Victoria Fasbender, Shannon Haley, and myself, Caleb Lang. I have been working with Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin since I was in high school. I am a senior at UW-Stevens Point pursuing a degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management. I also worked as a Madison Audubon Prairie Partner Intern at Goose Pond Sanctuary the summer of 2020.

This was the pilot year for what will hopefully become a much larger project. The goal of this research was to help verify estimations made by the DNR as far as what is quality waterfowl habitat in Wisconsin. We were flying drones on all sorts of properties across the state that had been ranked from good to poor to determine how accurate the previous estimation models were for waterfowl habitat as far as nesting and brood rearing. Maybe some properties with low numbers of broods would benefit with additional nesting cover. Another part of the study might involve brood survival. After this year Professor Sedinger may develop other goals for the brood study.

Caleb Lang and Victoria Fasbender watch the drone as it flies over a Goose Pond Sanctuary prairie. *Photo by Arlene Koziol*

For this project we used drones fixed with thermal and video cameras. We flew both in the early mornings and sometimes evenings just before dark in the coolest parts of the day to help with thermal imaging. The drone transects were 100 feet high using first the thermal camera to search for the heat signatures given off by warm blooded animals. We would then switch over to the video camera to identify the animal as duck or otherwise. If a duck image appeared we then identified the species, and then determined if it was a lone drake or hen, flock, or a brood and counted the numbers. Our goal was to fly weekly over 19 state properties across 10 counties as far north as Gilbert Creek Fishery and Wildlife Area and Muddy Creek Wildlife Areas near Eau Claire with Goose Pond being our southernmost study area.

Our most productive sites as far as total numbers of ducks were probably Ackley Wildlife Area in Marathon County and Eldorado Marsh Wildlife Area in Fond Du Lac County, as well as Goose Pond and Erstad Prairie/Schoeneberg Marsh. I enjoyed working at the Mead Wildlife Area, Sandhill Wildlife Area (14 mile drivable trail), and Buena Vista State Wildlife Area along with Dike 17 Wildlife Area in the Black River Falls State Forest. All of these properties had varying success at finding ducks. The Mead was quite productive and we found good numbers and some of the most interesting species such as many Ring-necked Duck broods, and even a Northern Shoveler brood! Sandhill wasn’t the most productive as far as ducks but had many other bird species of interest such as Black Crowned Night Herons, and Virginia Rail broods. Both Buena Vista and Black River Falls had rather low productivity due to the nature of the properties with Buena Vista being mostly large tracts of uplands with few waterfowl wetland and Black River Falls State Forest being so forested.

The results of this project, though mixed, were overall positive and were extremely successful finding pairs, broods, and flocks later on. While flying at Goose Pond we found 14 seperate Mallard broods and one Wood Duck brood. The Wood Duck brood numbered 12 in late spring and ended with 10 young that probably fledged. Peter Leege and Mark keep track of the broods and their numbers over the summer by viewing Pond Cam footage. They estimated that there were as many as 15 Mallard broods. At Erstad Prairie/ Schoeneberg Marsh we were only able to see part of the area from the Erstad Prairie and we found 11 Mallard broods and 1 Wood Duck brood. Our highest total count for a day of surveying at Goose Pond was 140 ducks consisting of Mallards, Wood Ducks, and Blue-Winged Teal. The high total count at Erstad Prairie/Schoeneberg Marsh was 68 ducks.

The Goose Pond team watches as the drone flies over. *Photo by Arlene Koziol*

The plan is to continue this project for the coming years but change the methods. Instead of flying transects over large areas we will mainly conduct point counts over bodies of water and fly stream beds as we had several properties such as Leola Marsh and Buena Vista Marsh that are mostly upland and were not worth spending so much time later in the summer.

We saw many noteworthy things while flying this summer, ducks or otherwise. Some observations include flocks of almost 400 ducks at Eldorado Wildlife Area while the birds were flightless. One day while flying at Dike 17 Wildlife Area we discovered a flock of 10 male Black Crowned Night Herons. We saw many Bitterns, broods of Sora and Virginia Rails, and American Coot broods. One of the crews even found a porcupine while flying at the Mead Wildlife area!

Caleb shows Mark Martin a feature of the drone controller, while Victoria flies a drone. *Photo by Arlene Koziol*

This was a very interesting and fun summer for all of us. We can now all legally operate drones which is a very good skill to have as an upcoming professional in this field. I have heard of so many projects recently that are using drones. We did some really interesting research that is a start on getting some solid numbers to judge waterfowl habitat in the state. We got to see parts of the state that many of us have never seen before, as well as just making some amazing long lasting professional connections and friendships! Thanks to Professor Ben Sedinger for designing and funding the study and hiring the team. Thanks also to Madison Audubon for giving us permission to fly the drones at Goose Pond and Erstad Prairie.

Written by Caleb Lang, former Prairie Partner Intern and Senior at UW-Stevens Point, majoring in Wildlife Ecology and Management