RETENTION OF WEB TAGS AND PLASTICINE-FILLED LEG BANDS APPLIED TO DAY-OLD DUCKLINGS

A new plasticine-filled leg band was developed for use in banding day- old ducklings. These bands permit inference about early survival that is not possible from banding of older young in standard operation& Two double-marking experiments with web tags and the new leg bands indica ted a high retention rate for the leg bands. In contrast, several web tags were lost, permitting an analysis directed at sources of variatio n in web tag retention rates. We found retention rates of web tags to be higher for diving ducks (Aythya) than for dabbling ducks (Anas), an d higher for tags placed in the web interior than for those applied to the web edge. However, we recommend that the new plasticine-filled le g bands be used in place of web tags because of their higher retention rates and presumably greater visibility to hunters. We believe they o ffer great potential for new studies of duckling survival and distribu tion.