Interesting Band Information

Gary Lee

Gary Lee

Active member
Carl asked on a post earlier about the banded Canvasback that I had harvested. While going though band certificates I came across one that I had from a Mallard I shot in AR.. The bird was banded in Seven Persons Alberta, I mapquested the distance and it ended up being a total of 1836.81 miles between the two spots. Although not a straight route that a bird could take (but very unlikely) it's still amazing to me. Anyone else have band info that they find interesting that they care to share?
 
Green Head
Banded 7/14/2001- Cam Rose, BC
Harvested 11/17/2008 -Wakefield ,Ks
1470 miles as the Crow , I mean Mallard flies.
I didn't realize they lived so long in the wild.
WG
 
A hunting partner several years ago shot a canvasback and one of the pellets opened the band enough that it fell off the leg when he wrung it's neck and bounced around in the rocks. We found it and only 2 numbers could be read, it was so old. Fish and Game tried some chemical test to pull up the numbers but only broke the band in trying. They figured possibly a 20 year old or older bird.
 
I shot a Lesser Scaup back in January 1998, the band looked like a little piece of scrap metal around the leg.
Sent it in to the Lab & they were able to etch it & raise enough numbers to figure it out.
Bird was banded as an adult in Nauvoo, IL, on March 21, 1988.
So he was hatched in Spring of 1987 or earlier and at least 11 years old when I shot him.
Thats pretty damn old for a duck.
View attachment Band.jpg
 
How about a migration of over 2500 miles in three months.
While it was not a Black, Mallard or Canada goose it was a tag of a differerent kind
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We tagged a 12' Blue shark and it was recaptured in the Azores less than three months later.
I know I have a photo of the shark somewhere, I'll post it up when I find it.
 
Carl that one looks brand new ... HA HA HA. I have yet to harvest an old band, oldest being 7 yrs. old (believe I have 3 that old). The one I recovered this year I thought for sure was going to be one of the "oldies" due to the wear and tear on the band. Ended up being 4 yrs. old. I was more than happy with it and really enjoy getting the information on the birds harvested. Congratulations on the bands guys!
 
From last February near Millington, MD.

Included is a map I made showing where the bird came from. It was shot in just about the middle of the DelMarVa Peninsula.

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You have reported the recovery of a snow goose wearing band No. Copenhagen 2A-0306.

The bird in question had been banded as an adult on 22 July 2008, at Booth Sund, Thule district in Greenland

Coordinates of banding site: 76 degr 53 min North, 70 degr 44 min West

Banders: John Baroch and David Sinnett

Thank you for reporting this bird.

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Believe it or not, I know a guy that shot a banded starling that was over forty years old. He refused to give it to fish and game as a govt employee would surely lose the band ; I believe it was banded in 1963 and the TWRA sent a letter telling him it was a longevity record but since he refused to send in the band it was not recorded. The band now resides on a mounted snipe.
 
Whilst hunting in texas in january I shot my first band, as we dont really band wildfowl in the UK( mostly only song birds) It was a cackling canada. 3 of them flow over I dropped one and my mate dropped another..Both were banded just 2numbers apart. The certificate we got said they were banded in blue goose nunavut..wonder if the third one would have been also ..Far old journey, nealy as far as i travelled to hunt them,,,

Intresting topic, Pau Scott
 
Gary - I got one on a black duck years ago on new years day in N. E. MA that had been banded several years earlier in New Brunswick - about 600 miles, I think. The current issue of DU has a pic of a pintail banded in Japan that was taken in the carolinas, I think, this year.
sarge
 
My favorite is the black that I shot while hunting by myself in Kosciusko County Indiana on November 24th, 2004 in a gale force wind, snow and sleet blowing sideways, with water nearly shin deep in the bottom of my boat.
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Banded 8/16/2003 7 miles E. of Mirror Lake, Alberta (a common Alberta banding spot). This was the only black banded in Alberta in 2004 according to Steve Pryor when I spoke to him..he said,"You got him eh?". As I recall they had banded over 21,000 ducks that summer. It's about 1500 miles straight line distance which means absolutely nothing frankly but it's a neat example of lateral distances traveled by waterfowl and an extreme example how far west some drake Black Ducks will fly to molt.

Steve also told me some stories about bluewings that had migrated incredible distances in a matter days. One in particular he had banded at Mirror Lake, Alberta and a day later he trapped it again in Eastern Saskatchewan. He also related a story about a drake Mallard that was banded in Alberta and ended up in New Brunswick or Newfoundland(can't remember which one)10 days later.

My buddy Dan shot a Greenland banded Canada in LaPorte about 2 miles from my house 5 years ago. When I emailed the guy in Copenhagen about it he said that it was one of 250 or so Canadas banded that year in Greenland.
 
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I've shot one banded duck so far. It was a hen green wing teal banded in the winter of 2005 at Cat Island SC and I shot it in Oct. 2007 in Mass. That's a distance of 1000 miles.
 
John, those Blue Sharks sure do roam. I was reading up on that the other day. I couldn't believe how far some of those tags were recovered. Seems like they cycle around the north and south Atlantic as a rule. Have they figured out if it's annual migration or random?
 
The first drake mallard I ever shot was banded in Otthon Sask., Roughly 1700 miles from where it was shot in western PA.

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One of the best hunts I have ever been on was the NW zone opener last year. 2 limits of mallards three bands.

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Enjoy seeing the photos and stories, keep them coming! Had a friend send me a photo last year of a hummingbird at a feeder. Yeah you guessed it, BANDED. Would love to get the info on that one. The information we get and is gathered is a small peek into the birds life/lives.
 
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