[obol] Falcated Duck

[Roger & Betty Robb]

I received an email from Brandon Reishus, a game bird biologist for ODFW.  He saw my photo of the Falcated Duck on Greg's website and thought the hind toe might be clipped.  He asked me for more photos which I sent and he now believes the bird has a clipped rear toe and is an escapee.  Brandon is not on OBOL, but said I could post his comments which are below.  I will also send Greg the photos I sent Brandon.  Let the discussion begin - again.

Roger Robb
Springfield, OR






Hi Roger,

I was looking at your pic of the falcated duck on Greg's site and a question 
came into my mind.  As a waterfowl biologist, I've always wondered about 
this bird's origin and have never been able to convince myself that it is 
truly a wild bird.  Anyway, when I saw your photo, of the bird standing out 
of water, my mind told me to look for a clipped toe.  Removing a rear toe 
from captive reared waterfowl can be used as one of the acceptable ways to 
mark them, via USFWS permit rules.  Anyway, I quickly saw the toe on the 
closest leg, but i cannot make out if there is one on the far leg, but it 
really doesn't look like it.  Is it possible that you have other photos 
showing that leg more clearly or a larger image that makes it more clear?  
Would it be possible for me to take a look at them?

By the way, great picture of this stunning duck.

Thanks,

Brandon Reishus
Eugene, OR



Hi again Roger,

Thanks for the pictures.

The picture w/ the bird facing to the left appears to have the most evidence 
that the bird is missing it's rear toe on the left foot.  Also, looking at 
the pic name FalcatedDuck05 I believe what remains of the rear toe that has 
been clipped can be seen on the inside of its leg.  This bit of toe is quite 
normal on a duck who has been clipped.

One point is the USFWS requires captive reared birds to be marked with a 
clipped right toe (if marking with the toe removal method).  But even though 
this bird is not up to USFWS specs, I find it doubtful that anything but a 
human removed the birds left toe.

As a game bird biologist for the ODFW I have knowledge of the permitted bird 
propagators in the state (only people propagating for sale, etc need to be 
permitted, you may possess, without permit, properly marked captive reared 
waterfowl).  Some of the propagators list what kinds of birds they have, 
while most who have ducks, simply state ducks.  Recently, one of our 
propagators mistakenly sent their federal sale/transfer form to us.  These 
forms must be completed for each transfer and submitted to the federal 
permit office.  They must list the species, sex and marker for each bird.  
One of the several transfers was for a male falcated duck, so at least some 
of the propagators in this state have falcated ducks.  That's not to say 
that this bird couldn't have come from some other state or province though.

Anyway, I guess I'm now convinced that the bird is an escapee from captivity 
somewhere, which I guess deep down I've always suspected.  When the bird 
first showed up at Kirk Pond I had some hope (I drove down from Corvallis to 
see him for the first time that year) but every time he moves it seems to be 
to some type of urban, captive style, pond w/ out the netting of a flight 
pen.

While, I guess that's my thoughts on the matter and I hope they're not too 
disappointing; they kind of are for me.

Thanks again,
Brandon Reishus
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