In the bird's stomach was a tag from one of the Wyoming trout. A California biologist making a wildlife food study obtained the merganser after it had been shot by a hunter. In Wyoming, fish and game department personnel tagged trout and banded a merganser duck. The practices of tagging and banding fish and wildlife often turn up oddities. Caught in a trap on January 31, 1958, the bird's original leg band, which was worn thin with age, was replaced. An adult when first trapped and leg banded in 1949, the duck successfully eluded hunters and wildlife predators for 10 years. Feeling trappedĪ bird of distinction and discretion is a black duck drake that was captured 18 times during a nine-year span in the waterfowl banding traps of the Michigan Department of Conservation. Since then, more than 23 million birds have been tagged, making the federal bands much more common. government's bird banding program was initiated in 1920. Last season alone, hunters from 23 states, Ontario, and Saskatchewan reported harvesting waterfowl with Miner bands. By 1944, 50,000 wild ducks had been banded at the sanctuary, along with 40,000 Canada geese. That same year, Miner added a verse of Biblical scripture to his bands. He banded his first wild duck in 1909 and in 1915 started banding Canada geese. The late Jack Miner founded the sanctuary in 1904 to provide a refuge for migratory birds. And perhaps none are more treasured than those originating from the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary in Kingsville, Ontario. Duck and goose bands have become collectibles.
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