Hunter tracks long-distance duck
A mallard drake hatched near Sandpoint was the featured attraction in a December duck hunt in Alabama.
Two of the ducks killed on Dec. 29 by Richard Manry of Birmingham were wearing leg bands. Like most waterfowlers, Manry was curious to find out where the ducks were banded, so he quickly reported the band numbers to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Records indicated that one of the birds was virtually a local, while the other was a long way from his original home.
One drake had been banded as an adult duck in 2005 near Marion, La., about 300 miles away from where it was killed. “However, what is not known is where Mr. Drake spent his spring-summer of 2006,” Manry said in an e-mail. “Could he have migrated to the Upper Midwest or maybe the Northeast or Canada? Is it possible that Mr. Drake was one of those ‘damn’ Yankee ducks that came to the South and stayed? Who knows for sure?”
The other drake, wearing band No. 1537-97851, had hatched in Sagle Slough and trapped and banded as a chick on Aug. 28, 1999.
Since then, it probably had mated several times and found its way eastward across from the Pacific Flyway and across the Central and Mississippi flyways to the Atlantic Flyway, where it met its fate 2,400 miles from where it hatched.
Manry was fascinated by the information and queried Idaho Fish and Game Department officials for more details.
“Alabama is certainly a long jaunt for a bird hatched in the Idaho Panhandle,” replied Bryan Helmich, Idaho Fish and Game Department habitat manager for the Panhandle Region. “However, the pending distance record comes from an island off the coast of Virginia!
“While both of the referenced band returns represent incredible travels, they are not uncommon,” Helmich continued. “Mallard pair bonds are typically established on wintering grounds when birds from all over North America are packed into a small geographic area.”
While geese and swans tend to mate for life, ducks have more promiscuous lifestyles, Helmich explained.
“After establishing a pair bond, drakes follow their chosen hen wherever she flies and she will typically return to nest in the same marsh complex where she was hatched,” he said. “As soon as the hen starts incubating a clutch of eggs, the pair bond dissolves and the drake searches for other prospects.
“As a result of this behavior, Idaho Panhandle staff often recapture the same mallard hens in the same traps, set in the same marsh year after year. We rarely see the same drakes again. In fact, I am only aware of two drakes being recaptured in subsequent years out of the 15,000 odd mallards banded in the Idaho Panhandle since 1992. Drake mallards typically disperse great distances and often cross flyway boundaries.”
Manry said he was excited to get more history on the duck. “There’s no doubt that this bird logged some incredible sky miles over the last seven years of migration,” he said.
During his research he learned even more about the wildlife banding.
“Migratory bird banding is an important tool for studying the movement, survival and behavior of migratory birds,” he said. “Since 1904, approx 58 million birds have been banded and over 3.1 million birds have been recovered and reported providing an insight to much useful data. Such data is used to ultimately secure the future of all species of migratory birds and preserve this small but important part of our natural resources! Hunters pick up a very large portion of these costs.”
The data Manry received from the Fish and Wildlife Service “is printed on a 5-by-7 certificate, and I’m very proud of it,” he said, noting that they are being framed for hanging on a wall.