Submitted Photo Sara Smith, a Dakota College at Bottineau student from Bloomfield, Montana, holds a duck to be banded.

BOTTINEAU – Dakota College at Bottineau students from the Fish and Wildlife program and Ecology participated in one of several duck banding endeavors at the J. Clark Salyer Wildlife Refuge, Upham, this year, according to a news release from the college.

Duck banding provides scientists with information on individual birds, migratory routes, and in the outing by DCB students, data on avian disease.

Ducks are baited with barley from the water to land. Once enough fowl are onshore, cannons are launched, spreading a net over the population and holding them in place until the available crew arrives.

Staff and students quickly worked to free the ducks from the net to be placed in holding cages. The banding professionals placed unique identification tags on the right legs of each individual bird, and most were let go after banding. Some needed further scrutiny.

A veterinarian took swab and blood samples from about 150 of the ducks that were detained for the purposes of tracking disease. DCB students aided the tests by recording data and learning how to draw blood samples from the birds. Assistants to the veterinarian placed small backpack trackers on mature female mallards to provide information on migration patterns.

“We are grateful for the professionals in the field that do this work and allow our students to participate. This is the kind of experience and education that pays dividends to our students so they can be successful beyond their tenure at our facility,” said DCB biology instructor Chad Chapman in the release.