Yellow Band on Redhead

[Tanner Martin]

Hi all,

The Redhead drake that has been hanging out in Grants Pass all winter is old news at this point (although his new Redhead buddy who showed up this morning is technically new news). But I’ve noticed that the wintering Redhead has a yellow band around his right leg — it appears to be something like a plastic zip-tie without any numbers or markings. Can anyone fill me in on what a band like this would mean — like whether is this a standard banding procedure for waterfowl monitoring, whether this duck domesticated at some point, etc.?

[Russ Namitz]

Hey Tanner-

I don’t know for certain, but I suspect if the zip tie does not have an accompanying USFWS metal band on the opposite leg, then it probably came from a private waterfowl collection.

The metal band and corresponding number would be filed in a national database with all of the permanent banding information.… Without it, band information, alive or not, is pretty much useless and defeats the scientific purpose of banding.

You might query a wider audience as there are some knowledgeable waterfowl folks and avian collectors on OBOL.

Cheers, Russ

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 17, 2021, at 5:00 PM, Tanner Martin <simonth...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,

>
> The Redhead drake that has been hanging out in Grants Pass all winter is old news at this point (although his new Redhead buddy who showed up this morning is technically new news). But I’ve noticed that the wintering Redhead has a yellow band around his right leg — it appears to be something like a plastic zip-tie without any numbers or markings. Can anyone fill me in on what a band like this would mean — like whether is this a standard banding procedure for waterfowl monitoring, whether this duck domesticated at some point, etc.?
>
>

> [_M6A1454.jpg]
>
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[Tanner Martin]

Thank Russ. There is definitely no band on the other leg — I’ve got enough shots of this duck both in and out of the water to say that with confidence. I’ll post this onto OBOL, and see if that brings up any further insights.

Tanner

[Alex Lamoreaux]

Uh oh... yea, that's a waterfowl collector thing. I guess that explains why it has been so long-staying and tame.....

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Alex Lamoreaux

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Senior Leader/North America Specialist for Wildside Nature Tours
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[Tanner Martin]

Unfortunately, that makes total sense. At least the other REDH at the park today didn’t have a band and seemed completely wild. I hope I didn’t just make more work for you, Alex...

Practically speaking, how does this impact our reporting for eBird? Is there a protocol we should follow for a situation like this where the bird is generally in its native range but from a private collection? This seems like a fairly unusual case since most birds like this are generally obviously a domestic variety (Muscovy Duck) or are completely out of their native range (Mandarin Duck). I wasn’t even aware people kept Redheads…

Tanner

[Alex Lamoreaux]

It is a very unusual case, like you say, because it is a native bird that does move through this region - continue reporting it as you have. No specific protocol from eBird on how to deal with birds like this, so let's just consider it 'wild'. -Alex