Long distance duck
From the Yukon, to the Delta
By Bobby Cleveland
Special to The Clarion-Ledger
This scaup, shot in the Mississippi Delta, toted this antenna all the way from Alaska.
State waterfowl biologist Scott Baker says most Mississippi hunters choose not to shoot at the not-so-tasty bluebill duck.
"Those who do won't admit it," Baker joked.
That's not true of a group of hunters who enjoy telling the story of the bluebill (a.k.a. scaup) taken on a hunt earlier this month in the Delta.
The duck was banded, and, amazingly, was wearing a transmitter and long antenna that it had carried from its summer home in Alaska.
"We called and it was from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks," said Jonathan Powers, who claims it was one of his three shots that knocked the bird down in a beanfield in northwest LeFlore County. "Don't you know it was tired. That's a long way to fly carrying all that on its back."
Powers was hunting Jan. 7 with friends Barry Patton, Frank Bailey and Todd Burrell, all of Kosciusko, and Jackson law student Andy Clark when the group decided to shoot at one last duck — the bluebill.
Finding the attached hardware, Powers contacted the school this week. So did The Clarion-Ledger.
"It was one of 41 bluebills from our 2005 project," said Mark Lindberg, a UAF biology professor. "We put the transmitter on it and released it July 12 near the town of Beaver in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. That's 60 miles north of Fairbanks, and Fairbanks is 350 miles north of Anchorage."
Lindberg said the program uses only short-range transmitters to locate birds for study during the nesting season. He said the antenna is designed to fall off in three months.
"We're looking for nesting results, while they are here," he said. "We know for instance, that this scaup hatched seven ducklings on July 14 but that all but one died within three days of hatching. We last observed her on Aug. 1.
"We aren't sure when she migrated out. Want to know why they want to leave here so bad? It's minus-46 degrees here today (Wednesday)."
That the bird had left no earlier than Aug. 1 makes this story more interesting.
Using a computer program that figures mileage based on latitude and longitude, it's about 3,500 miles between Yukon Flats and the Delta, as the crow flies. Migrating scaup don't fly in straight lines.
"We don't know the route she took to reach the Mississippi (River) Flyway, but it's likely it required a big eastern loop," Lindberg said. "I'd say 5,000 miles total, at least."
Said Patton: "Think about it, 5,000 miles in 140 days. That's like 35 miles per day. That's a lot of wing flapping."
Powers gives most of the credit for finding the antenna to Patton's black Lab, Jack.
"He made a blind retrieve at about 350 or 400 yards, and brought it back," Powers said.
Baker said that it wasn't surprising to get an Alaskan duck here.
"We get a lot of mallards and pintails from there," he said. "I wouldn't say it was surprising as much as it is interesting. I didn't know we got bluebills from there."
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