Another Adventure....Duck Banding 3/8/2012

What an adventure.....There have been biologists on the rufuge the past 2weeks capturing and banding birds.  Dale and his buddy Don went to help at the beginning and they were not able to capture any birds.  They came home disappointed that they had not felt the thrill of holding a duck in their hands.  Well....Thursday March 8th they left at 9am and did not return home until 7pm.  They got a ton of ducks.  What they were actually wanting was Teals...and they got them. Actually about 700 in a 2 week time period.   Probably 200 of them that day.  A rocket releases the net over a group of birds, then people....Dale and Don included wade out into the gucky, muddy, water and reach under the net and grab a bird...then they bring it back to shore to put in a holding pen so someone can later do a fecal swab, blood test, sex and band the Teals.  They did some Koutz too (sorta like a duck) .  The closeup of the bird is of a Cinnamon Teal....not a common sight around here.  Everyone was quite happy to see it.  They were capturing the birds at a place called "Cattail Marsh" which is a pond at the Beaumont Sewage Treatment facility. (yucky..but not smelly) There are lots of birds around there....plus numerous alligators.  We didn't get any pictures of them.....sorry.