Banding event offers opportunity to learn about outdoors, wildlife

DUDLEY, Mo. — More than 50 youngsters turned out early Saturday morning at the Otter Slough Conservation Area in Stoddard County to take part in the annual youth bird banding event.

Now in its 11th year, the event is a partnership between the Dexter Greenheads chapter of Ducks Unlimited and the Missouri Department of Conservation.

“We like to have this event every year at Otter Slough,” said new area manager Luke Wehmhoff. “It’s a great event for the kids to come out and experience a little bit of the outdoors they don’t always see, and it’s educational in terms of teaching them how and why we band the birds.”

Ducks Unlimited Regional Director Martin Anderson echoed Wehmhoff’s words, saying the event is “very interactive. It get them out of the house and onto a conservation area, and every kid that showed up today had the chance to band a wood duck and a dove.”

Missouri Department of Conservation’s Chris Barnes shows a group of children how to determine the age of a mourning dove by counting the wing feathers during Saturday’s banding event at the Otter Slough Conservation Area. DAR/Paul Davis

The day started early on the shore of Cypress Lake, where MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Mike Reed demonstrated how he uses special electrofishing equipment to capture fish from the region’s waters.

One after another, Reed showed the children bluegills, bass, crappie and channel catfish he caught earlier in the morning.

Brock Carey, 7, carefully releases a mourning dove into the wild after it was banded during Saturday morning’s event. DAR/Paul Davis

He also demonstrated how he implants tags in fish, which are used to help collect harvest and movement data.

“Why do you think we go out and collect fish?” Reed asked the children, telling them the reason was to “learn about the fish population so the fishermen will have a good fishing lake.”

Moving to the area’s headquarters building, the children were able to experience a hands-on look at how birds, first mourning doves and then wood ducks, are banded.

Hunter Mouser, 5, releases a female wood duck along the shore of Otter Lake after he put a band on its leg. DAR/Paul Davis

One by one, mourning doves which had been captured on the area were pulled from the crates they were kept in, and each child was able to learn from biologists how to age and sex them, and after staff installed leg bands, the children were able to release them back into the wild.

“On the doves, one of the things we look for is the wing feathers,” Wehmhoff told the gathered children. “You’ll notice some of the ones on the outer edge are rougher and the color is a little lighter,” helping to age the birds.

Then it was time to band wood ducks, and the children jumped at the opportunity.

Elenie Buffett, 8, gets ready to toss a freshly-banded mourning dove into the air during Saturday’s event. DAR/Paul Davis

With several stations set up, each child was able to learn from a biologist how to determine the age and sex of a wood duck.

“What do you think, baby or grown-up?” MDC biologist Tommy Marshall asked of one participants, before explaining “these feathers here tell me it’s a baby.”

After learning about the ducks, each child had the opportunity to place a numbered band on its leg. Finally, they were able to toss the ducks into the air, watching them fly away back into their natural habitat.

“We had a great turnout at Otter Slough Conservation Area today,” said Anderson at the conclusion of the event. “What a great hands-on experience for the kids to enjoy. It’s something I hope they will always remember, because these kids are the future of conservation and hunting as we know it.”

About 50 children and their parents gather along the shore of Cypress Lake at Otter Slough Conservation Area Saturday morning to watch a demonstration by fisheries biologist Mike Reed. DAR/Paul Davis