Beyond Banding: Understanding the Science of Duck and Goose Bands

The glint of metal bands on a hunter’s lanyard in the morning light is a sure sign of being in the right part of the flyway. What that heavy strap also represents is a culmination of years of data that waterfowl biologists rely on to judge the health of waterfowl populations. As technology evolves, though, is banding still important? Dr. Bradley Cohen of Cohen Wildlife Lab in Tennessee states, “Banding data will always be the backbone of adaptive harvest management, along with the May pond counts and the breeding population survey. With all of the technology that is here and on the way, nothing will change that pending appropriate funding."

Today’s technology is starting to fill the gaps in the information that bands provide. These gaps include the bird’s movements between being banded and when the band is eventually recovered. Chances are if you have watched anything on social media you have noticed ‘backpacks’ on ducks that are put on during the operations. The cost of these little telemetry backpacks do not allow them to be used as widespread as the metal bands, but the satellite telemetry data provided is incredible.

“No matter where they are in the world, Mexico, Canada, or even Russia, we can receive data from the transmitters,” says Dr. Cohen. “The backpack transmitters are able to give feedback from mallards once every hour. The ones on geese, because they are larger, can be as frequent as every ten to fifteen minutes. Implanted transmitters on the birds give data less often - about every four hours depending on the research question.”

Dr. Ryan Askren of Five Oaks Ag Research & Education Center echos the benefits of the devices, “We can typically collect GPS location of an individual bird every hour. While they aren’t perfect, having impacts on the bird’s survival and large scale movements, they provide a mountain of data that can be used to answer all sorts of questions related to habitat use and local movements. Overall, they provide some really good insights that we would otherwise not have.”

He continues that, “Satellite telemetry has largely supported hypotheses about the timing and movement of waterfowl related to hunting pressure. Transmitter data provides incredible insights into the decision ducks make in where and when they go places. All ducks make these decisions at multiple scales; the region they migrate to, the wetland they choose to roost in, and even what specific portion of a wetland they use. I think transmitter data has emphasized the overarching importance of providing safe areas for ducks to ensure they continue to return to a specific area and even region. Ducks have wings for a reason, so they can go to the best place that gives them the best chance of survival, and transmitter data has shown ducks' abilities to make decisions and move to different regions within and between winter periods.”

The data on bird behavior in response to environmental conditions informs researchers and managers on the ground on how best to utilize the landscape to the benefit of waterfowl. Dr. Cohen states, “We can obtain frequent satellite pictures, and combined with drone mapping and habitat surveys, all are helpful. We can even do thermal surveys over areas based on the telemetry data. With the photos and using artificial intelligence (AI) programming, it can assist in sorting and filtering through the imaging to get accurate counts. By providing parameters to the programing and refining it, we’re able to get extremely accurate waterfowl counts from the imaging. Who knows where the technology will be in ten years.”

Where is this leading us with the current population fears for the all-mighty mallard? Reports during banding operations this February and March is that populations have been scattered throughout the lower Mississippi Flyway, but researchers have been able to get bands on legs and transmitters on backs.

“Waterfowl populations, especially mallards, are certainly down and that has contributed to the tough hunting seasons that many have experienced. However, we have been here before. Duck populations have been cyclical since we have records, tightly following dry/wet cycles in the prairies. These dry/wet cycles have always been a part of prairie wetland ecosystems and necessary to maintain productivity of invertebrates and food that hens need to reproduce,” remarked Dr. Askren.

With all of the technology and the decades worth of band data, what is the future holding for waterfowl? In speaking with Dr. Cohen, “What we will see driving management forward are large-scale landscape changes. Being able to see how and when the land is used by waterfowl will work hand in hand with understanding how productive land is. Changes in agricultural technology change how farmers are able to manage landscapes; precision agriculture can calculate down to the bushel how productive particular acres are. This in turn, when programs are better funded, could allow the less productive acres to be put into conservation type easements.”

Dr. Askren echoes the sentiment on the future impacts of the data, “These improvements have and will continue to help us understand potential changes that waterfowl populations will make to landscape change and other driving factors in the future. This should be especially true for understanding how changes in agriculture on the breeding and wintering grounds are influencing the population trends and distribution.”

When waterfowlers shoot a banded duck or goose with a band, the protocol is to report to the data collection agency (US Fish & Wildlife Service.) With the backpacks, a hunter can send that transmitter back to the researchers to be used again. But, what else can waterfowlers be doing? Dr. Askren suggests, “What we need to be shouting from the rooftops is that there is habitat loss/degradation on the breeding grounds, and the wintering grounds too. The amount of flooded acreage in the wintering grounds is tied to waterfowl productivity during the next breeding season rather than to harvest. In other words, the more habitat birds have in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, the better condition that hens are in to go back and breed. When there are fewer acres flooded, with increased farming efficiency, in addition to geese feeding means there is little to no waste rice left for ducks. When they do get here, there are likely fewer safe places for them to go.”

“All the data and that means lower carrying capacity to support wintering ducks (especially mallards) than prior decades. Most importantly, we are continuing to see wetland loss and degradation across the breeding region of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), from the upper midwest through the Canadian prairies. Tile drainage is continually being installed to drain wetlands, ditches are being cut in Canada to drain ephemeral wetlands into larger, less productive wetlands, and the associated grasslands and cover next to those wetlands that still exist have declined dramatically. Waterfowl hunters need to come together for a strong farm bill and for other programs that incentivize farmers to conserve and restore the benefits for waterfowl and the ecosystem services those wetlands provide.”

Bands, backpacks, transmitters, AI programs, and who knows what comes next. All of this and more goes into biologists and researchers ability to help study the wildfowl we all care about including the resources they need. Report your bands, and if you are lucky enough to find a backpack, turn it in! 

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