Migration, Movements, and Habitat Use

This chapter considers waterfowl migration and habitat use as outcomes of evolutionary history, energetic tradeoffs, and shifting environmental conditions. Movements and habitat use during the non-breeding season emerge as a balance between resource needs, survival pressures, and the constraints of weather, landscape, and social structure. Strategies vary within and among species, shaped by differences in body size, dominance, and flexibility in habitat selection. Agricultural landscapes now define much of the migratory experience, introducing new resource patterns that affect timing, distance, and distribution. Some species travel long distances in response to seasonal cues, while others adjust movements based on local conditions, blending obligate and facultative strategies. Habitat use reflects similar variation, ranging from generalist exploitation of diverse environments to highly specialized foraging in coastal or aquatic systems. Modern technologies are revealing unexpected patterns, including individual variation and shifts from historical winter distributions and migration timing. These complexities challenge assumptions about predictability and highlight the importance of understanding migration as a process influenced by evolutionary adaptations and contemporary change. Conservation planning depends on this broader perspective, where behavioral plasticity, carry-over effects, and landscape context shape how and where waterfowl persist through the non-breeding season.