Survey: Duck Population Up 14 Percent Preliminary results from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey estimate a total duck population of more than 36 million, or a 14 percent increase from last year's estimate and 9 percent above the 1955-2005 average. The survey indicated an increase in the quality of waterfowl breeding habitat in the United States and Canada from 2005. "There's a lot of good news in the survey this year for the total duck population and waterfowl breeding habitat," said H. Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Waterfowl Breeding Ground Population and Habitat Survey, the largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind in the world, samples 1.3 million square miles across the north-central United States, south-central and northern Canada, and Alaska.