It must be summer.

And I don't need to look at a calendar to know that.

I've found myself spending more time recently in the cool confines of my basement.

With sweat pouring down my face while I've got on just a T-shirt and shorts, I'll look at my pile of camouflage fleece clothing and think, "Man, I can't wait until I need to wear layers of that stuff."

Invariably, that leads me over to my workbench, where my call lanyard hangs.

I'll break into a brief sequence of goose chatter before my wife stomps on the floor upstairs and hollers, "Why is there a goose in my basement?"

You other waterfowl nuts out there know what I'm talking about.

This is the time of year when news starts trickling in about the success of the most recent nesting season, and projections are made about the coming fall's migrations.

It makes me — and I'm guessing many of you — think of lying out in the middle of a frosty, cut cornfield, hammering away on a call at a flock of distant geese, hoping they'll tip their wings and head my way.

The big, detailed population reports, along with frameworks for the 2011-12 waterfowl hunting seasons, won't be unveiled until after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's migratory bird staff meeting July 26.

But the early word is things were good this spring, and they're looking good for the fall.

For a few days beginning June 11, USFWS biologists flew over northern Quebec's Ungava Peninsula to survey the breeding grounds of the Atlantic Population of Canada geese.

The biologists admitted they were not optimistic about what they'd find.

That's because, unless you were holed up in Florida from November through March, you know this past winter was a rough one in the northeastern U.S.

Lots of snow.

Frigid temperatures for an extended period.

Heck, the weather basically blew out our hunting for migratory Canadas last season.

There were a few pockets of geese here and there, but the big flocks that we normally have hanging around headed farther south.

I saw that for my own eyes in late January when I headed to the southern end of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

There were more Canada geese stacked up down there than I've ever seen in one area before.

I had been wondering what happened to all the birds we usually have around Lancaster County, and that trip gave me the answer.

Anyway, because of the nasty winter in the Northeast, USFWS biologists expected a toll to have been taken on the Atlantic Population geese.

They were pleasantly surprised, however, by what they saw on the Ungava Peninsula in mid-June.

For starters, the Ungava experienced the same cold we all endured last winter.

But it didn't get socked by the heavy snows that buried us. In fact, it had less snow than normal.

So nesting conditions on the peninsula were quite good.

There was plenty of open water, and the vegetation was green and lush.

Following a few years of declining numbers of Atlantic Canadas, the biologists reported finding increased numbers of both breeding and nonbreeding geese on the Ungava this spring.

So don't be surprised if this year's nesting-success report indicates an increase in gosling production, or if the migration forecast calls for a bigger fall flight than we saw last year.

Both would be welcome news since, according to a number of reports, we came within millimeters of having our bag limit during the regular season decreased from three geese per day to two by Atlantic Flyway officials concerned about the Atlantic Population numbers.

And I was told by more than one official last year that the decrease was all but guaranteed this year if population figures didn't improve.

We still might see that reduction, but at least the early population reports seem to indicate we might get another reprieve this year.

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Goose hunters aren't the only waterfowlers who should be smiling these days.

Things look promising for duck hunters this fall as well.

The USFWS estimates the total number of breeding ducks this spring was 45.6 million.

That's 11 percent higher than last year's estimate and 35 percent higher than the long-term average.

That estimate covers all species of ducks except scoters, eiders, long-tailed ducks, mergansers and wood ducks.

The estimate for mallards was 9.2 million, which is 9 percent above last year's estimate and 22 percent higher than the long-term average.

Pintail numbers showed a marked improvement this year, with an estimated breeding population of 4.4 million.

That's 26 percent above last year's estimate and similar to the long-term average of 4 million.

It's the highest pintail estimate in over 20 years.

For you trophy hunters out there, the canvasback population estimate was 691,000, which is similar to last year's estimate.

It's highly likely these high numbers of ducks churned out a high number of ducklings, since nesting conditions were absolutely perfect in nearly all duck-breeding areas.

There was average to above-average moisture this spring, and the weather during both winter and spring on the breeding grounds was normal.

"Conditions across the Canadian prairies were greatly improved relative to last year," USFWS biologists reported.

One of the ways biologists assess those conditions is by counting ponds in the breeding areas. The more ponds there are, the better the habitat is for duckling production.

The 2011 estimate of ponds in prairie Canada was 31 percent higher than last year's figure.

In the U.S. prairie region, conditions were considered to have been excellent this spring as well.

The western Dakotas and eastern Montana were extremely dry in 2010, but that area saw abundant precipitation last winter and spring.

"Further, the abundant moisture and delayed farming operations in the north-central U.S. and southern Canadian prairies likely benefited early-nesting waterfowl," biologists reported.

As we all know, however, some of that country experienced severe flooding in late spring and early summer.

So the question is, did that flooding exact a toll on ducklings?

Or did it come late enough that the ducklings were old enough to weather the storms, so to speak?

Time will tell.

After barely putting any rounds through my shotgun last season, I'm ready for a good year.

Aren't you?

P.J. Reilly is the Sunday News' outdoors writer. Email him at preilly@lnpnews.com.