Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes Duck Migration Forecast

Where Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes is

Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes is drawn from 3 counties in Pennsylvania: Crawford, Mercer and Venango. 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 Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes peaks

DuckCast’s season model puts the wood duck peak here around mid October. 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 Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes

In DuckCast’s season model, the species that can score highest in Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes are wood ducks, Canada geese and mallards. Against the state as a whole, it expects more green-winged teal in Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes and fewer snow geese and black ducks.

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 Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes

5 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Jamestown, NY, about 60 miles northeast, Buffalo, NY, about 115 miles northeast, Iroquois NWR, NY, about 140 miles northeast, Montezuma NWR, NY, about 195 miles northeast and Cape Vincent, NY, about 260 miles northeast. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.

Radar over Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes

Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KPBZ, the National Weather Service radar at Pittsburgh, about 65 miles south 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 Pymatuning and the Northwest Marshes are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.