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The following was taken from my local newspaper (July 19th)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been conducting duck surveys on the Canadian and U.S. Prairies for decades and the breeding ground results have just been announced, fulfilling the hopes of the waterfowl community. All of that April water “did the trick” and the USFWS waterfowl surveys showed the numbers of all duck species breeding on the Prairies have taken a big jump.
The number of May ponds increased by 91% over the spring of 2002, to a 2003 count of 5.2 million ponds. The number of ducks breeding on the Prairies increased from 31.2 million to 36.2 million. Mallards led the way, increasing from 7.5 million to 7.9 million.
Other species showed similar trends. Gadwall jumped from 2.2 million to 2.5 million, Widgeon were up from 2.3 million to 2.5 million, Greenwing Teal improved from 2.3 to 2.7 million, Bluewings from 4.2 million to 5.5 million while the Shoveler rose a whopping 56% from 2.3 million to 3.6 million. Redheads went from 565,000 to 637,000.
Even waterfowl`s most beleaguered species showed increases this year. Lesser Scaup (the famous” bluebill”) that have been falling for two decades, increased from 3.5 million to 3.7 million, Canvasbacks went from 487,000 to 558,000, and Pintails were up from 1.8 million to .6 million birds.
Now to be very clear, these birds did not just appear as if by magic but these counts reflect the improved breeding conditions on the Prairies. During the Prairie droughts, many birds over-fly the Plains to sit out the breeding season in the north. But in 2003 improved water conditions prompted lots of breeding birds to settle on the Prairies and raise ducks.