More ducks are in Arkansas than there were in December, but still far fewer than their long-term average.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission offered this assessment in its annual Mid-Winter Aerial Waterfowl Survey Report. The Game and Fish Commission’s waterfowl management team conducted the survey Jan. 6-14 in the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain (the Delta), in the Arkansas River Valley and in Southwest Arkansas.
Delta
According to the report, biologists estimated the presence of 452,017 mallards and 924,545 total ducks in the Delta. The Delta mallard population estimate was 182,324 mallards above the 2024 Mid-Winter Survey estimate, but it was 309,595 mallards below the 2010-2025 MWS long-term average. That is noteworthy because duck numbers by 2010 had fallen significantly from their abundance in the 1990s.
Total duck population estimates were 260,554 birds below the long-term average, but 242,456 birds above 2024 Mid-Winter Survey estimates.
On average, mallards account for about 63% of all ducks in the Delta during the Mid-Winter Survey. During this survey period, mallards comprised only 49% of the total duck estimate, a 14% deficit.
Biologists estimated more than 100,000 mallards in the Black-Upper White survey zone and in the Cache River survey zone. These survey zones accounted for 49% of the Delta mallard estimate and 41% of the total duck estimate. The highest total duck numbers were also in these two survey zones.
Notably, the Bayou Meto-Lower Arkansas survey zone harbored 168,977 total ducks, including 69,102 mallards.
Hotspot maps indicate several key duck concentration areas primarily in the northern portion of the Delta, with scattered distribution throughout the central part of the state.
Arctic goose population estimates in the Delta were 615,756 light geese and 189,166 greater white-fronted geese.
Arkansas River Valley
The Arkansas River Valley held 84,119 ducks, including 39,058 mallards during the Mid-Winter Survey. Mallards numbered 14,977 above the Mid-Winter Survey long-term average, and total duck estimates were 37,972 ducks above the long-term average. Mallards comprised 46% of the total duck estimate, a 5% decrease from the long-term average.
Most of the mallards (81%), as well as 73% of total ducks, were in the Point Remove-Plumerville survey zone. According to Brett Leach, the AGFC’s waterfowl program coordinator, survey results can be biased high or low during periods of freezing conditions, as occurred during this survey. In this case, Leach wrote, results were likely biased high due to “clumped duck distribution” and several large concentrations, leading to greater uncertainty in point estimates. Therefore, confidence in the population estimate is lower than in most surveys.
Southwest Arkansas
An estimated 22,160 ducks — 2,660 mallards — were in Southwest Arkansas. Mallard counts were 63% below the Mid-Winter Survey long-term average, and total duck counts were 6% above the long-term average. Nearly 60% of the observed mallards were along the Red River from Interstate 30 to Arkansas 82.
Shortly before the Mid-Winter Survey, heavy rainfall improved habitat conditions in the survey zones. Rivers flooded throughout much of the state, and many rivers remained in flood stage by the end of the survey period. However, the amount of overbank flooding began declining throughout the survey.
Most of the survey occurred as the state experienced freezing temperatures ahead of a snowstorm, and the survey ended during the thaw. Staff will begin flying the season’s third and final survey of the year beginning January 20.
Anecdotally, northern pintails and American wigeon are more numerous in parts of the Delta than they were earlier in the season. Hunters report that ducks are very skittish and call-shy, and are concentrating to feed in the shallowest portions of flooded fields.
Owners of high-quality habitat in Arkansas and Monroe counties report very few ducks, but ducks are abundant in Jefferson County near the Arkansas River and near other major rivers north of Interstate 40.
Some hunters have encountered large numbers of canvasbacks on the Arkansas River and also in Northeast Arkansas.
