Duck, Duck, More Ducks

Went out to the refuge early this morning to help with some duck banding. The ducks are captured using a cannon net. This is an exciting (for a second) way to trap wildlife, particularly large groups of animals, like flocks of birds and herds of deer. But it can be very frustrating, too. The prep time can be long, several days or even weeks. Animals are wary of new things in their environment, so they have be acclimated to anything introduced into their routine (I know some people like that, too). So, feed is laid out to attract them to the spot where you want to capture them. Then, after a few days and they're coming in to the food, the equipment is set out for a few days as well as a hide/blind for the operators to sit in. They'll observe the net and when the animals are positioned correctly set off the charges.

Rockets carry weights attached to a net over the top of the animals, trapping them. The net is launched from the escape direction, so when they run away they actually run into the net rather than to the open end where some might escape before the net lands on the other side. You can see the anchor posts in this shot. The big pile at the back is a bunch of ducks (mallards).

We banded a little over 300, at initial count. The birds are banded with a USFWS leg band and swabbed for later testing for avian influenza before being released.

Lots of fun.