How California Waterfowl counts ducks

My main job at California Waterfowl is producing a magazine, but I also work on videos, and this was a fun one because I got to go for a helicopter ride. Life is good, baby!

What we're doing here is cruising really low and counting waterfowl to help the state determine the size of the breeding population of resident waterfowl (i.e., not the migrants who just spend winter here). If you go full-screen, you'll see some of the ducks flying in some  of the shots. Turns out they don't like helicopters much.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014