Old Duck Bands and Calls

Who remembers the glory days of the regal Northern Pintail? Most of my duck hunting days were from 1975-1985 and Pintails were the duck of choice in the Coastal Bend. With a population of approximately 10 million, the daily bag limit was ten Pintails per day – preferably all Drakes!

Sadly, the population has been hovering around 2 million for quite a while. As a result, the daily bag limit has (rightfully) been reduced to one Pintail.

Calling Pintails was different. Rather than the quintessential duck “quack” the Pintail makes a “whistling” sound. A fine duck hunter, and field-trial champion, Harvey Evans taught me to use an Acme Thuderer whistle with the cork ball cut out.

It was always a thrill to harvest a duck with a band! That was a special treat and you couldn’t wait to report the band and receive the details.

I was fortunate to have acquired two bands within a few years of duck hunting. As it were, the bands themselves have missplaced through the years (although I did them both on my key chain for many years.)

Coastal Bend Sprigs! The great Northern Pintail.

How to report banded birds:

“If you have found or harvested a banded bird, please report it at www.reportband.gov. You’ll need the band number, or numbers, if the bird has more than one band. See below for more information on reward bands. You’ll also need to know where, when and how you recovered the bird. Your contact information will be requested in case there are any questions. The U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Lab (BBL) will send you a certificate of appreciation that includes information about the sex, age and species of the bird, and where and when it was banded. You can keep the band.”