The Ozarks Duck Migration Forecast

Where The Ozarks is

The Ozarks is drawn from 34 counties in Missouri: Barry, Christian, Crawford, Dade, Dallas, Dent, Douglas, Gasconade, Greene, Howell, Iron, Jasper, Laclede, Lawrence, Madison, Maries, McDonald, Miller, Newton, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, Reynolds, Shannon, St. Francois, Stone, Taney, Texas, Washington, Webster and Wright. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.

When The Ozarks peaks

DuckCast’s season model puts the mallard peak here around early December. The timing follows the statewide curve; what differs here is how many birds the model expects, below. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year. The actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the state wildlife agency, linked below.

Which birds the model expects in The Ozarks

In DuckCast’s season model, the species that can score highest in The Ozarks are blue-winged teal, mallards and green-winged teal. Against the state as a whole, it expects fewer pintails, snow geese and mallards in The Ozarks.

Those weights come from harvest records, survey counts and the kind of water, not from a count taken here each season. They cap how high each species’ score can climb; the weather still has to bring the birds.

What DuckCast watches upstream of The Ozarks

2 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Havana, IL, about 225 miles northeast and Riverton, IA, about 285 miles northwest. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.

Radar over The Ozarks

Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KSGF, the National Weather Service radar at Springfield, about 70 miles west of the region’s weather point. That puts the radar just outside the region, near enough to see birds lifting off and passing close by. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.

Locations stay generalized

Hunter reports for The Ozarks are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.