Brad Bortner - band question

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, Newly Unemployed~

As you will soon find out, we public servants remain "on duty" the rest of our lives....

While gunning Long Island on Wednesday, one of our crew shot a Black Duck with a band on each leg. Both bands were very worn - couldn't read most numbers - and both appeared to be aluminum. He will be mailing both to Laurel.

It's been decades since I put a band on a bird - and I cannot recall the details of the protocol. Our "working theory" is that this bird had been recaptured with a single worn band. Because the original band was so worn, a second was added. Are we on the right track?

We are certainly anxious to learn the provenance/history of this fine bird.

Finally, I hope you thoroughly enjoy your "Phase II". I do not think of my current life as "retirement". I work all day every day - but now need only my own permission to proceed on any task - and I work only to my own standards. 'tis a wonderful life!

All the best,

SJS
 
That's neat Steve about the double banded Black Duck.

Question about the worn bands that need restoring. Does the person who mailed them in ultimately get the bands back? Or does USFWS keep them?
 
I shot a Canada goose one season with a very worn band. I sent it off and the band was later returned to me. It was determined that it had been banded over 12yrs ago.
 
More than likely it is a reward band on the second leg, look real close and you may be able to see part of the "Reward" or $100

I shot this one last year on Lake Champlain, it was banded 8 years before, 250 miles north of Quebec City. I had to send the bands in to the BBL to get the numbers off them and the check came in a few weeks later. They will be very thin, so if they flatten them there is no going back to being round, just keep that in mind depending on what he wants to do with them in the future.
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Shot a double banded black duck years back. If I remember correctly it as a $100 reward band. Reward bands allow biologists to get a better sense of report rates for banded birds with the idea that folks are more likely to report a band if there is a reward. You would think it would be reward enough to know where the bird came from etc.



https://flyways.us/faq/i-recovered-band-was-worn-out-and-there-are-no-numbers-it-there-way-lift-numbers-band-see-how
 
Steve,

I don’t need to answer as you’ve gotten very good information from everyone else.

Yes it’s likely a reward band. If sent in they will be etched. They will be flatten as part of that process and they will be returned to the hunter. Etching can recover digits that are no longer readable but can not recover digits when the band is notched from wear. But then the BBL can compare readable digits to know bindings and fill in the most likely digit.

The only reason I can think of having two regular bands would be some comparison of alloys but I’m not aware of any studies going on right now. Yes aluminum bands suffer from excessive wear on ducks in salt water. Guess ducks need other sacrificial anodes.

Brad
 
I shot a snow goose a couple years ago with a $50 band on it. Hopefully they can get all the numbers off and get y’all the information on the bird.
 
Linhardt said:
That's interesting about the etching. Did not know that. Thought a well worn band would be a lost cause and I probably would not have sent one in if it was too worn to see. Now I know to send it in anyway to let them try by etching it. That is if I ever get luck to harvest something with a band.
Click to expand...

I would guess they have pretty good luck with restoring band numbers on just worn bands. I do a good number of serial number restorations on guns and you'd be surprised how deep you often have to go to truly totally remove a serial number from a gun.

Makes me curious though....how long does it take for an Aluminum band to become unreadable?

And it's cool that the band recoverer gets the band back after etching.
 
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I believe they only raised partial numbers from my band, enough to correlate with the species and sex to verify the record.

I would think exposure to saltwater is a factor in how quick they wear, mine was on 10 years and was pretty darn close to coming off.
 
Salt water, alkaline water, mud and sand all contribute. Band wear on birds that use salt water requires using different alloys. Redheads experience higher rates of band wear than mallards. There are incoloy and stainless steel bands for different species.
 
Thanks, Brad et al~

In our experience, reward bands have been green. Is that just a superficial coating that wears off?

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve, some are anodized green. Some have been put out bare metal I think. But I do think the anodizing wears off. To clarify a previous statement, bands sent in for etching won’t necessarily be flatten. Send it in a box still round and they’ll try to keep it round.
 
Al Afton went to incoloy when banding scaup on the Mississippi because of extreme wear of the aluminum bands on scaup. There might be a few double bands left out there but probably not many. And they are not reward bands.
 
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I shot a drake mallard with a red band that said " Brickhouse 7797" , sent info in and they could not tell me anything about it. Anybody have any ideas were this drake came from . Shot on the Delaware river near Philadelphia.
 
I agree I've shot several over the years and my oldest duck was a black duck @. 21 years old 2nd being a hen eider @ 13 years old,my first reward band was a black duck in the early 80's @ $25.00 the second was a Mallard Drake @$100 his band however was Green the other being silver, he was banded in September '09
In New Bruinswick Ca. I shot him 3 weeks later in Braintree,Mass. That being said my state BIOLIGIST said they put reward bands on them to encourage hunters to report in when harvesting banded birds.
NICE JOB!!!! CONGRADULATIONS!!
 
You can etch it yourself with muriatic acid. Then neutralize it after you've transposed the numbers. No need to send off or worry about flattening...
 
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