duck banding questions

[Paul Zelenka]

I have been hunting for 21 years now and have only shot one banded bird. It was a double banded brant last year.
Just a few questions I was thinking about banded ducks.
Do all duck species get banded?
Which ones get banded the most/least?
How many different species have you shot with bands?

 

[Al Hansen]

I have been hunting for 21 years now and have only shot one banded bird. It was a double banded brant last year.
Just a few questions I was thinking about banded ducks.
Do all duck species get banded?
Which ones get banded the most/least?
How many different species have you shot with bands?

Boy, you are lucky. I started hunting ducks in 1954 and had to wait until 2002---Yes that is 48 years, before I shot my first banded duck.
Do all species get banded-----I can only speak from experience. Those ducks that I have helped band at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge are all banded. For example, we have made some rocket shots and captured maybe 250/300 birds at a crack. In that bunch will most likely be mallards, most abundant, then pintails, a few teal, wood ducks, spoonbills, and some widgeons. All of the birds are banded.

Mallards and bluewing teal are probably banded the most just because of their numbers.
I have been fortunate enough to take banded mallards, pintail, gadwall, widgeons, and mallard/Mexican duck hybrids.
Al

 

[Rob Robertson]

This is my 31st Duck Season here in Oklahoma and Texas

Band #-------bird------date Taken----where Banded------banded-hatch
1037-78239-Mallard-----Dec20,1980--Near Cawker City, KS---1978--1976
1357-63023-Mallard-----Nov18,1982--11 N Mont Nebo, SK----1982--1981
1037-68865-Mallard-----Nov7,1983---Near Milburn, OK---------1983--1982
1097-72401-Mallard-----Jan2,1984----Near Overton, NE-------1978--1977
797-36544--Mallard-----Nov24,1987--Near Houghton, SD-----1983--1982
658-24318--Canada G.--Jan19,1992--Near Pierre, SD----------1974--1973
2377-46131-Mallard ----Nov24,1994--7 Se Manville, AB--------1993--1993
2377-47887-Mallard-----Nov23,1996--11se Islay, AB-----------1993--1992
2387-40341-Mallard-----Nov15,1997--4 E Glenbush, SK--------1995--1995
2397-68189-Mallard-----Dec27,1997--11 S Vermilion, AB-------1995--1994
2377-91550-Mallard-----Jan6,1999----20 W Pease River, AB--1996--1995
0965-35882-Bw Teal----Sep11,1999---7 E Jamestown, ND----1999--1999
1066-61032-Redhead----Nov2,2000----7 E Mirror, AB----------1999--1998
1637-38376-Mallard-----Jan17,2001----7 W Alzada, MT--------1999--1998
1637-38377-Mallard-----Jan3,2002-----7 W Alzada, MT---------1999--1998
1527-94526-Mallard-----Jan12,2002----Near Smiley, SK--------2000--1999
935-25509--Woodduck--Jan15,2003----Manila, AR--------------1997--1997
1086-51478-Pintail------Nov9,2007-----Jansen,SK--------------2006--2005
1487-35420-Mallard-----Dec8,2007-----Butler,OK---------------1997--1996
1717-49912-Mallard-----Jan9,2010----20 W Pease River, AB--2006--2006

 

[Brad Bortner]

Paul

I would be happy to answer those questions but I am tied up the rest of today and this weekend with Adonis. If you want to get started you can look up the answers to a couple of your questions on the USGS Bird Banding Lab website.

 

[Hank Fish]

VT and Quebec have a very strong banding program, and the Champlain Valley of VT and NY get alot of bands. We killed 9 this year (ducks and geese) and close to that many last year.

I have Mallard, black, mallard/black hybrid, wood duck, eider, canvasback, canada goose, snow goose and specklebelly geese. I also have a wing tag off an escape ruddy shellduck, and a rubber gasket used on a mason jar that was stuck on the neck of a mergasner, along with a bunch of pigeon bands.

Nice day

Last year

 

[John Fraser]

I got my third banded duck this December, a bufflehead. In 2003 I got a banded brant. In 1996 a banded mallard. So that's one every seven years. It seems that location makes a big difference in the amount of bands you see. Other places around the state, some not too far from here, see a lot more bands.

Someone in my boat shot a banded oldsquaw in 2009. It was a snotty day with fast shooting so we didn't even notice the band at the time. My friend found it at home when he went to clean the birds.

 

[Carl]

Mallards are by far the most banded ducks. Not sure about the least, but I would speculate that GEs & Buffies are down there at the bottom.
Tons of canada geese get banded.

I've been hunting ducks seriously since the 1997-98 season and shot my only banded bird that year. It was a bluebill, he was banded as an adult in 1987, making him at least 11 years old when I got him. They had to chemically etch the band to read the numbers that were left, figured the rest out by the sex & species.

Only other banded duck taken in my boat was a drake redhead, he's in my avatar pic. That was a hell of a day, 2 man limit of gaddies, bluebills, redheads & spoonies.
First bird in the spread at 5 minutes after shooting time was the drake redhead, broke over my buddies end of the boat and he rolled him. I went out to pick the bird up and cussed him all the way back to the boat!

 

[Paul Zelenka]

I know how that feels Carl. A couple of years ago I took a deer hunter duck hunting for the first and the first bird that came in was a banded drake mallard. I had another buddy take a banded drake mallard the first season he hunted with me also. All before I got my band

 

[Dave Walker]

VT and Quebec have a very strong banding program, and the Champlain Valley of VT and NY get alot of bands. We killed 9 this year (ducks and geese) and close to that many last year.

I have Mallard, black, mallard/black hybrid, wood duck, eider, canvasback, canada goose, snow goose and specklebelly geese. I also have a wing tag off an escape ruddy shellduck, and a rubber gasket used on a mason jar that was stuck on the neck of a mergasner, along with a bunch of pigeon bands.

Nice day

Last year

So you're the guy that gets 'em all in VT. Been duck hunting 16 years in VT and have 1 goose band and 3 ducks. Buddy of mine has like 8 total and he's been at it longer then me in VT. I have participated in the banding and they do quite well in the valley. BUT I don't seem to be seeing them through the season much myself. And I do OK with season totals.

 

[CraigS]

30 yrs hunting. 2 banded Wood ducks and 3 banded Canada geese and 1 snow goose collar.

South Dakota hunting trip in 06 one days take of bands and collars by 6 guys.

A Buddy of mine bands Wood ducks, did 150 of them at the local marsh this year. He has a map in his office of all the place his banded ducks have been harvested over the years.

 

[Pat M]

It depends on the study for what kind of duck gets banded. Around here they just strated recently banding local wood ducks to see where they go. I got my first band last year on opening day, a wood duck that was banded one county over.