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February 2012

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Subject:
From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:11:36 -0500
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Paul & all--
        My experience is that the number of banded Ohio trumpeters is
approaching zero. It certainly is getting harder to find intact bands on
Ohio birds. The Ohio swan project lasted from 1996-2006, at which time
they stopped routinely banding swans and called it a success. They keep
track of swan numbers (some release sites just didn't work out, and a
surprising number of swans are killed by various numbskull Nimrods every
year). It takes a lot of effort to wade out into a marsh then fight off
the adults while you catch and band young birds. Several other projects
in nearby states have abandoned bands, too, and others have adopted new
protocols, so they have several colors of license plates out there.
Patuxent is very good at getting you information on swan bands you
report to them, but they won't send you a list of the protocols: they
trade information, but don't give it away.
        If you see a band (I think the Ohio ones are black alphanumerics on
yellow; please correct here if I'm wrong) you can probably ID Ohio birds
yourself, but Patuxent and ODOW would like to know. But there fewer and
fewer of them out there. There are also some tundra swans being banded
in the Arctic, too, so don't rely on all banded birds being trumpeters.
A lot of this is on the ODOW web site; if you want to ask a question
however you'll find you'll have to go through the Director rather than
just ask one of the employees these days.
Bill Whan
Columbus


On 2/21/2012 10:02 AM, Paul Dubuc wrote:
> Hello, All:
>
> A common rule of thumb I've heard numerous times in Ohio is that as the
> size of a flock of Trumpeter Swans grows, the probability that NONE of the
> birds will have neck bands rapidly approaches zero.  I've never heard
> anyone suggest that this a definitive distinction (and it certainly is
> useless with singletons or very small groups), but wondered if one of the
> better informed Ohio Listers might be able to address whether this is still
> a useful data point when flocks of native swans are observed.
>
> Bird well,
>
> Paul

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