Sporting highly sophisticated “backpacks’ that are
really 20-gram satellite transmitters, 50 female pintail ducks are
flying north from the Central Valley in California this spring. The
ducks are the focus of Discovery for Recovery, a four-year study by
Ducks Unlimited, the U.S. Geological Survey and the California
Waterfowl Association. Its object is determining pintail migration
routes and habitat. While other duck populations remain healthy,
pintail numbers have dropped from 10.3 million in the 1950s to
about 3 million in 1999. Scientists don’t know what’s wrong, but
they suspect many birds are not using their usual breeding grounds
on the Canadian prairies. The satellite data relays each duck’s
geographical location and activity level, and is accompanied by
on-the-ground habitat information collected by the research team.
Through this study, the first of its kind, “we hope to find clues
for their conservation in the future,” says Ducks Unlimited
biologist Bruce Batt. On the project’s Web site, you can find out
more about the study, and the satellite technology used, and trace
each bird’s migration route through interactive maps. The site also
offers a weekly biologist’s journal and a forum for
questions.
View Discovery for Recovery at
www.werc.usgs.gov/pinsat. For more information, contact Tildy La
Farge at Ducks Unlimited at
901/758-3859.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Backpacks and quacks.
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