Bird banding: How to catch 750 ducks — safely

[h2ofwlr]

Bird banding: How to catch 750 ducks — safely

By Paul A. Smith / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
September 3, 2016 at 9:43 am
photos; http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/03/bi ... 750-ducks/

Highlights
Simple metal anklets -- bird bands -- are one of the most valuable tools bird biologists have to study migratory bird populations.
Wisconsin meets its annual quota of brd bands by using trained professionals and volunteers.
Bird banding at the 33,000-acre Horicon Marsh has been taking place for more than 80 years.


Matthew Smith, 11, of Hartford, Wis., releases a mallard Thursday after the bird was banded at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Matthew Smith, 11, of Hartford, Wis., releases a mallard Thursday after the bird was banded at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)

BURNETT, Wis. — As the late afternoon sun dropped to the west recently, a golden light settled over Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area.

Nary a puff of wind could be felt: The cattail forest stood still and the open water was like glass.

The sky, however, was full of activity. Thousands of dragonflies darted overhead, pursuing insects. Cedar waxwings flitted in and out of shoreline trees, too, grabbing meals on the wing. They were joined by tree and northern rough-winged swallows.

And in the distance, flocks of ducks — mallards and wood ducks and blue-winged teal, mostly — worked over the marsh.

At about 6:30 p.m. some of the birds set wings and landed on a dike near Burnett Ditch. Their next supper — dozens of corn cobs loaded with bright yellow kernels — was laid out like a buffet table at an all-you-can-eat diner. It was too good to pass up.
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As mallards and woodies began picking at the corn, Paul Samerdyke, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist, and Kyle Lazotte, a DNR wildlife technician, watched from a nearby ground blind.

Seventeen volunteers, as well as a half-dozen DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, were staged about a half-mile away.

At 6:40 p.m. calm was temporarily broken on the marsh.

“Boom.”

Samerdyke activated a trio of charges, which simultaneously fired and sent a cannon net over the baited ground.

When the dust settled, about a dozen ducks were trapped under the 30-by-60-foot fabric.

“Time to go,” said Chris Cole, DNR wildlife technician. Cole put his truck in gear and led a caravan of vehicles over a dike road to the trapping site near Burnett Ditch on the marsh’s west edge.

Paul Samerdyke, wildlife biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a mallard caught with a cannon net during a banding project at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Paul Samerdyke, wildlife biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a mallard caught with a cannon net during a banding project at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)

Within five minutes, the workers and volunteers extricated birds from the net and held them securely to prevent injury.

Then the primary objective of the outing began in earnest: bird banding.

Samerdyke and Cole spread gear on the grassy dike and began processing the birds. The ducks were identified by species, age class (adult or immature) and sex. Then an aluminum band was crimped on the birds’ lower leg.

Each band is inscribed with a unique number to allow the bird to be identified and tracked. Information on the movements and distribution of the birds is critical to identify key habitats.

The identification, record-keeping and banding took just about a minute for each duck. Volunteers proudly held the birds close to their chests and waited for their bird to be banded.

The catch included mallard and wood ducks. Teal eat mostly vegetation and insects and don’t come to corn, Cole said. Diving ducks such as redheads are present at Horicon in summer but also aren’t drawn to the bait.

The ducks were in various stages of molt. Even adult male wood ducks looked drab. Male woodies were easily identified, however, by their red eyes.

The work is part of more than 80 years of banding research at Horicon, Samerdyke said. Similar efforts have been made across the continent to study migratory birds.

Any state that offers a hunting season for a migratory species must participate in banding, Samerdyke said. The DNR and USFWS band mallards, wood ducks, Canada geese and mourning doves at Horicon.

A banding quota is established for each species. This year the Horicon goal is to band 450 mallards, 300 wood ducks, 300 Canada geese and 50 mourning doves. Most of the work is conducted in June, July and August.

Covering about 33,000 acres, Horicon Marsh is one of the largest freshwater marshes in the nation.

The northern two-thirds of the marsh is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. The southern one-third is managed by the DNR as Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area.

Horicon is recognized as a Wetland of International Importance and a Global and State Important bird area. It’s also a unit of the Ice Age Scientific Reserve.

Located in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties, the wetland is fed by the Rock River.

The marsh provides habitat for more than 300 species of birds as well as mammals, such as white-tailed deer, muskrats, red foxes and bats, amphibians such as turtles and frogs, and insects and fish.

The banding can take place anywhere on the expansive marsh.

About six years ago botulism was present on the federal side of the wetland, Cole said. Rather than draw ducks in “just to have them die,” state and federal wildlife personnel coordinated, and trapping and banding that year was conducted only on the state side where the disease had not been detected.

A male wood duck, identifiable by its red eye, is held during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area near Horicon, Wis. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
A male wood duck, identifiable by its red eye, is held during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area near Horicon, Wis. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)

Migratory bird banding data is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Maryland. Birders, hunters or others call (800) 327-BAND to report a banded bird. They can then receive a report of the bird’s history, including where and when it was banded and observed previously.

Samerdyke said most bands are reported by hunters, but some also are called in by wildlife watchers who use a spotting scope to read the numbers on a live bird. Some, too, are returned by people who find a dead bird.

The opportunity to assist with the banding at Horicon draws a large group of volunteers.

“This is too cool,” said Matthew Smith, 11, of Hartford, as he waddled toward a shoreline, clutching precious feathered cargo to his chest. Smith was volunteering with his father, Colin, and mother, April.

He held the mallard at waist level, then gave it a quick lift and let go. The bird flapped away, sporting a new piece of jewelry.

The group included several members of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, including Colin Smith and Nick Radosta of Germantown.

“This is a great way to teach kids and others about conservation,” Radosta said. “We hunt for a small portion of the year, and the rest of the time we’re working on habitat or wildlife projects.”

The volunteer corps is critical for days when the catch is high. On Monday, 67 birds were captured in one netting. The catch of a dozen was a rare low, but not due to a lack of birds in the area. The most the DNR crew has caught at Horicon is 400 ducks in one attempt.

“It is a huge outreach program for us,” Samerdyke said of the banding program. “We enjoy the chance to work side by side with the public and let them know how much we appreciate their help.”

Ducks banded at Horicon have been found as far south as Louisiana, as far east as Virginia and South Carolina, and as far north as Ontario.

Conversely, some wood ducks banded in early summer in Arkansas and Louisiana have been spotted in Wisconsin in late summer and early fall. And some Canada geese from Wisconsin have been recorded flying north to Ontario during a “molt migration,” typically in June.

Matthew Smith, 11, of Hartford, Wis., releases a mallard Thursday after the bird was banded at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Wendy Meier, a naturalist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a wood duck during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Paul Samerdyke, wildlife biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a mallard caught with a cannon net during a banding project at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Colin Smith prepares to release a mallard after the bird was banded at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area while his son, Matthew, looks on. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
A male wood duck, identifiable by its red eye, is held during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area near Horicon, Wis. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Matthew Smith, 11, of Hartford, Wis., releases a mallard Thursday after the bird was banded at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
Wendy Meier, a naturalist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a wood duck during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)
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Wendy Meier, a naturalist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, holds a wood duck during a banding session at Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area. (Paul A. Smith/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/TNS)

For wildlife managers and biologists, the work helps answer a critical question: Where should they focus habitat work?

“To band a bird is to hold a ticket in a great lottery,” wrote Aldo Leopold in “A Sand County Almanac.”

Thanks to efforts at Horicon and around the continent this summer, the banding sweepstakes continue to pay dividends for North America’s migratory birds.

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To volunteer with the duck banding project at Horicon, contact Elizabeth Herzmann of the DNR at elizabeth.herzmann@wisconsin.gov or (920) 387-7893.