Trapper Keepers

We've been collaborating with The Bombay Natural History Society to aid in our attempts to sample waterfowl for our project.  I met Mr. Bala Balachandran - who may arguably be the godfather of bird banding.  He has banded hundreds of thousands of birds and his assistance with bird sampling was advantageous.

We wanted to sample whistling ducks even though they just migrate locally.  When it comes to satellite tagging birds we want to gauge the range of long-distance flyers.  I began by building and installing a few traps along the shore and one anchored to bamboo poles out slightly farther where I noticed ducks the night before. 

Bala and Enam (Enam El Haque is a lifelong birder in this area) suggested we look in another area to find Ruddy Shelducks.  I thought it would be a great idea to work with our other colleagues that ordinarily help us trap bats for our Nipah virus research in the area.  It was a perfect opportunity to share resources between projects and gain valuable experience for future endeavors. 

The very next morning we captured a Cotton Pygmy Goose, a Pheasant Tailed Jacana and a Ferruginous Porchard.  The area that Bala and Enam suggested was indeed a better spot for us to conduct sampling. We managed to capture a Ruddy Shelduck and were able to fit it with a satellite transmitter.  The duck was successfully tagged and released and I'm looking forward to receiving the first migratory data.

Reporting from Bangladesh, EcoHealth Alliance scientist Kurt Vandegrift is working toward monitoring highly pathogenic Avian influenza in wild migratory waterfowl.