Philopatry to Nest Sites

Female waterfowl show breeding philopatry. That is jargon for homing to the area where they were raised or settled last year.

Sometimes the homing is amazingly precise – not just to the same set of territorial ponds, but also to the same upland nest site.

This hen blue-wing was caught on a nest yesterday that was just a few feet from where she was captured and marked in 2025 by Jack Johnson in South Dakota.

We have had many instances of dabblers using the exact same nest bowl. That is easy to detect when predator management makes so many nests successful hatches.

-Frank