WATERFOWLING Birds' bracelets and collars more than mere decoration

Join the waterfowlers' band and call in with numbers.
By ERIC SHARP
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
GRAYLING, Mich. -- A few years ago I shot a dove in Indiana, and when the dog retrieved it, the dove had a tiny, numbered metal band on its leg.
The dove breasts were just a delicious memory (wrapped in bacon and barbecued with just a touch of sauce) some weeks later when I learned from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the banded dove had been hatched and banded in southern Michigan five months before it was shot.
As waterfowlers will head out for late fall and early winter, some of them will shoot ducks and geese with bands on their legs (and in the case of geese, sometimes on their necks).
I often see waterfowl hunters who have adorned the lanyards that hold their calls with a collection of metal bands recovered from ducks and geese. It always surprises me how few of the hunters bother to report those bands to the North American Bird Banding Program in Laurel, Md., even though those reports are beneficial to us hunters over the long haul.
I'm not much on collecting souvenirs from the animals I kill. When I shoot banded waterfowl, I usually give the bands to people who appreciate them more than I do. But I always call in the band numbers.
When it began
U.S. government agencies began banding dozens of species of birds 102 years ago in an effort to learn when, where and by which routes they travel, and to try to get survival data.
Since 1902, U.S. banders have placed metal tags on the legs of 63 million migratory birds ranging in size from quarter-ounce hummingbirds to 20-pound trumpeter swans and Canada geese. A surprising 3.5 million of those tags, 5 percent, have been recovered over the years, mostly from hunted species like ducks, geese and doves. At the moment, about 1.2 million banded birds are flying around out there, the bulk of them waterfowl, and the banding service annually gets reports on band recoveries from about 85,000 of them (roughly 7 percent).
If you are fortunate enough to shoot a banded duck or goose, take a minute to report the eight- or nine-number code to the banding service by calling toll free to 1-800-327-2263. It will give you a feeling of being more involved with the future of your sport.
Should be reported
State agencies sometimes band game birds such as pheasants and grouse with tags that have a letter and five numerals. These should be reported to the state office number on the tag.
Private individuals such as pigeon raisers also band birds, but it's unlikely a hunter will ever come across one.
While I don't keep waterfowl tags, that rare dove tag was one of my most treasured possessions, attached for three years on the ring that held my house and truck keys.
Somehow I misplaced it, probably when I turned the truck in for a new one. So if anyone out there has a tiny, numbered metal band on his truck keys and wondered how it got there, give me a call.