Nicolet Bird Sanctuary During the spring migration, there were nearly 500,000 snow goose ("Chen caerulescens"), or nearly all of the population of species "atlantica". It is also an important site for the migration of Canada (Branta canadensis), where more than 100,000 individuals were observed in 1998. There are also a number ("Black duck") ("Anas rubripes") and of black scoter ("Melanitta nigra"). During the autumn, there are a significant number of pintail ("Anas acuta"), small scaup ("Aythya affinis"), Scaup and golden-eye withered ("Bucephala clangula"). Ducks nesting on the site are the Aix sponsa, the nasal duck, Anas clypeata, the gill duck, Anas strepera), 'American
Lesser scaup bird surveys, lesser and greater scaup are counted together due to the impossibility of identifying the species unequivocally when large numbers of birds are involved. Lesser scaup are thought to comprise slightly less than nine-tenths of the scaup population of North America. In the 1970s, the lesser scaup population was estimated at 6.9 million birds on average; in the 1990s it had declined to about half that number, and by the late 2000s it is estimated at 3 million individuals or less. Due to the wide breeding range and the fact that the rate of decline, though remarkable, is still