As a third generation Delta Waterfowl employee, The Duck Hunters Organization is in Kevin Ward’s blood. His grandfather, Edward Ward, was a gamekeeper at the Delta Waterfowl Research Station at Manitoba’s Delta Marsh, while his father, Peter Ward, worked with Delta’s first chief scientist, Albert Hochbaum, on numerous ground-breaking advances in waterfowl science.
While he was a teenager, Ward worked part-time at the Delta Waterfowl Research Station, performing building and grounds maintenance duties. After studying biology at the University of Minnesota and University of Texas, he became a full-time employee in 1973, making him Delta’s longest-serving employee.
“I do just about anything at Delta Marsh along the lines of maintenance, including vehicle repair, woodworking, construction and electrical work,” Ward said. “More recently, I am best known for building the Delta Hen Houses that increase nesting hen survival and nest success in the prairie pothole region. I also manage areas of the marsh to provide enhanced habitat for the fall migration. It excites me to see the hundreds of green-winged teal and other dabblers select my managed sites, knowing I made them more attractive to migrating waterfowl and birds in general.”
Ward enjoys birdwatching, studying plant and animal communities, and hunting canvasbacks, redheads and scaup at the Delta Marsh. He’s owned numerous retrievers over the years, and most fondly recalls a black Lab, Skip.
“She had an amazing nose,” Ward said. “One spring, she began digging in a snowdrift along the marsh road and came running back with a cell phone that a Delta student had accidentally dropped the previous fall.”