The current plight of the mallard duck is a startling reminder that no matter how abundant, plentiful and common a species may be, it doesn’t mean the population can’t plummet.
Right now, mallards are decreasing – pretty drastically – across much of their range in the Atlantic Flyway. While they are still the most common species in the waterfowl world, some experts believe mallards have declined by about 38% in the northeastern U.S.
Is the drop related to habitat, disease, weather or genetic issues from hybridization with domestic mallards? Something else? There isn’t a clear answer, yet, but Pennsylvania and other states will soon launch a study to find an answer.
But mallards aren’t the only wildlife species that was considered common and abundant not too long ago, and now… not so much.
At one time, muskrats were common just about anywhere there was a puddle. Huts adorned swamps, marshes and ponds while holes dotted the banks of rivers and streams.
In his 1964 book “Muskrats: The Trapper’s Meal Ticket,” legendary fur buyer Nick Wyshinski called muskrats the most prolific furbearer. Many veteran trappers learned the ropes by trapping muskrats in a farm pond because they were easy to catch and abundant.
Today, in many places, muskrats are no longer prolific and huts are scarce. The guesses as to why are many – natural population cycle, disease and habitat loss, to name a few.
While all is not lost for the mallard and the muskrat, and wildlife experts across the country are working to find a cause and solution, the two species are a reminder of how important it is to take nothing for granted.
Sure, a particular species may be here today in great numbers, but that might not be the case tomorrow.
And there is no better example than the passenger pigeon.
The last passenger pigeon died in 1914, bringing an end to a population that once numbered in the billions. In a span of 40 years, the passenger pigeon, which once darkened the sky with its sheer numbers, was wiped off the face of the earth.
Unlike the mallard and muskrat, the cause behind the demise of the passenger pigeon is well-known.
Beginning in the mid-1800s, the birds were killed with reckless abandon. They were shot, trapped, netted and even clubbed to death. Carcasses filled train cars and the young, called squab, were plucked from their nests and packed in barrels to be shipped to big city restaurants.
And even when it became apparent that the species was destined for extinction, the killing continued as people wanted to get one stuffed, just to have it, before they all were gone.
That’s how the passenger pigeon became extinct.
I don’t think we’ll ever have a repeat of the passenger pigeon. As a society, I like to believe we have a better handle on things compared to the days of filling barrels with squab and packing train cars with carcasses.
And I’m optimistic that the situations with the mallard and muskrat can, and will, turn around. Unlike the passenger pigeon, science is on their side.
But it doesn’t mean there aren’t species on the verge of disappearing, either on the state level, nationally or even globally.
Here in Pennsylvania, the call of the whip-poor-will is largely absent from the serenade of nighttime sounds and the plaintive whistle of the Northern bobwhite is now silent. The two species aren’t extirpated in the state, but they sure are pretty rare.
While the mallard and muskrat will never disappear entirely, it might be a while before they return in the numbers that were common a few decades ago.
Still, the fact that both species can plummet to alarmingly low levels is cause for concern.
And it’s also a reminder that even though a particular species may be abundant, plentiful and common, they’re also vulnerable as well.
