BANDING NORTHERN PINTAILS

CWA staff initiated the 2008 post-season pintail trapping and banding program in January in the Sacramento Valley.  As in past years the plan was to stay in the northern Central Valley as long as the pintail are around, and then follow them up to their spring staging area in the Klamath Basin.  Unlike our mallard banding program during the summer where bait traps are used, rocket nets are used during pintail banding.  This allows larger numbers of birds to be captured and processed at one time and allows banding crews to be more mobile and able to follow the birds as they move around the state.

In addition to banding pintail, samples were also taken from a selection of birds and tested by USGS for Avian Influenza.  This has been standard practice on all our pintail banding projects with all samples coming back negative.

This year’s partners include US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), CA Department of Fish and Game (DFG), and US Geological Survey (USGS).

2008 Post-season Pintail Banding Summary :

Northern Pintail: 1,085
American Wigeon: 401
Eurasion Wigeon: 3

Weekly Rocket Net Results:

Jan 24 – Feb 2:  One capture event resulting in 137 pintail and 1 American wigeon banded at Sacramento NWR

Feb 3 – Feb 9:  No banding avtivity

Feb 10 - Feb 16: One capture event resulting in 291 pintail and 25 American wigeon banded at Howard Slough WA.

Feb 17 - Feb 23: Two capture events resulting in 23 pintail and 35 American wigeon banded at Howard Slough WA and Llano Seco NWR.

Feb 24 - Mar 1: One capture event resulting in 4 pintail and 55 wigeon on private land near Sacramento.

Banding crew left Sacramento Valley and headed to the Klamath Basin.

Mar 2 - Mar 8 : Two capture events resulting in 232 pintail, 59 American wigeon, and 1 eurasion wigeon banded at Lower Klamath NWR.

Mar 9 - Mar 16 : Four capture events resulting in 353 pintail, 188 American wigeon, and 2 eurasion wigeon banded at Lower Klamath NWR.

Mar 17 - Mar 23: One capture event resulting tin 45 pintai and 38 American wigeon banded at Lower Klamath NWR.

2008 Post-season pintail bainding complete.