Help us better serve the visitors to this web site by submitting this short survey. While it occupies only 10 percent of North America's land mass, the PPR produces upwards to 75 percent of the continent's ducks. Birds that nest in the pothole region fan out across the continent come fall. About three fourths of the pothole region lies in Canada where, accordingly, three fourths of the ducks historically were produced. In recent years, however, about half of the PPR's duck production has occurred on the US side of the border.
Most sportsmen understand the role of water in duck production.
Less understood is the importance of upland nesting cover. Puddle ducks like mallards, pintails, gadwalls, blue wings and shovelers nest in grass, moving to water once the ducklings hatch. Ducks will nest in just about any kind of cover, but nest success is determined by the type, amount and density of the cover. When forced to set up housekeeping in narrow strips of cover like weedy fence rows, ditches or the edges of wetlands, ducks are extremely vulnerable to predation. Fox, skunks, raccoons and badgers are among the deadliest of mammalian predators.