[shocktroop]

I shot my first banded bird the day before seasons end. It was a ring-neck hen. I called the number in and got the certificate back today. My imagination ran rampant with a long history of the birds life or something unusual.....but....... Turns out the bird was banded 08/14/2004 by Pryor sp from Admonton ab canada? I harvested the bird at lake Arrowhead Tx. Age of bird....certificate says it was too young to fly when banded in 2004. The weird thing is, it wasn't a ringneck, it was a redhead. HUH! Stumped me. I have a great species identification book I carry with me to learn the new species of areas I move to often, and when I first shot one in the first few days of season I swore that it was a redhead, but kinda small, but later reading and pics, I concluded that it was a ringneck hen. I haven't seen a red-head drake all season up here, but this particular bird was flying with ring-necks and now looking at the difference, they are very similiar with the white rings on the eyes, a blueish bill with a dark patch across it....hm.......had it pegged for a ringneck hen, in fact.....guess it was a red-head? Any of you guys have a hard time telling the difference in unfamiliar species even when in the hand?

 

[mallardhunter]

I have trouble sometimes early in the season, but I get better in the late season. Thanks for sharing the info, congrats on the band :salude:

 

[Trois_beaux_canards]

congrats!

 

[KO]

to tell the difference...look at the speculum...on a ringneck there's a faint green iredence (yeah bad spelling) the redhead shows no color at all.....those two birds are so close in appearence.....the wing will tell you everytime...just tilt in the sun and you be able to see the green tint

congrats.......always kinda special geting a band

 

[shocktroop]

to tell the difference...look at the speculum...on a ringneck there's a faint green iredence (yeah bad spelling) the redhead shows no color at all.....those two birds are so close in appearence.....the wing will tell you everytime...just tilt in the sun and you be able to see the green tint

congrats.......always kinda special geting a band

Good info, but how the heck woulod you tell on the wing (in flight) Down here it's two redheads a day, full bag on ring-necks. Would hate to come out with an over limmit thinking they were ringnecks! Anyways....I just came from corpus christi tx, down there, tons of red-heads....the red-heads up here in wichita falls tx look different and fly different....I know that sounds stupid and all, but when I shot my first ring-neck hen....I thought it was a redhead.....but like I said, later investigation revealed it was a ringneck....so I thought.......I wonder how many red-heads I shot that I thought were ring-necks?????? Wel, can't be that many, I think two at most is all I ever took on the hens, but still......it kinda bothers me.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

congrats on the band.

:salude: :getdown: :thumbsup:

 

[SCoutdoorsman]

Way to go on the band :thumbsup:

 

[KO]

In flight? cross your fingers.....I knew some guys....back in the 70's redheads were off limits........a flock of 10 duckscame head on into our decoys....well...we let them have it...and keep in mind it was that half hour before sunrise....seven birds hit the water.....you guessed it...all redheads....there was some fast plucking that day......one has to hope for some drakes in the flock....duck hunting is a tough sport...I think anyone who has hunted for any length of time and is honest about it...would admit to making errors....fortunately...most learn from it.....In fact this year we let a flock go through the decoys 3 times before we could make a positive ID...they were Cans...season was closed....the weather and time of day made it tough to tell until the third pass they sat in the decoys and swam around......

 

[e'villeduck]

We've all made our mistakes. But I'd be careful what you say on this site. Even if it happen acouple of years ago. Some guys up north were bragging this year on a different site about shooting over the limit on geese and just so happens a conservation officer found out about it. They were arrested. I've been told they are viewing this sites anonymously.
Back to bands, about 10 years ago I shoot a drake ring-neck. The band was almost smooth and you could barely make out some lines. I called to report the band and they said they could run some test on it but couldn't verify that I would get it back, so I didn't send it in. Anyone have this problem before or suggestions?

 

[donell67]

congrats on the banded bird. it is hard to tell the difference in the hen redhead and the hen ringneck. i would love to get a banded diver.

 

[terryg]

did it look like the one in the this pic on the right?

 

[shocktroop]

The drake is a dead ringer (no pun intended) and yea, it looks 98% like the one on the right but a tad lighter on the body and bill.

 

[terryg]

that is a ring neck hen. they probably made a mistake when they were banding it. a lot of young ducks look alike.

i shot a double on a pair of golden eye a few weeks back. couldn't tell if they were hens, juvenile or out of plumage drakes as they all look alike.

since they were together and by themsleves i figured at this time of the year they were juvy drakes.

regardless, one is being mounted as a hen with a prime drake i got. nobody can tell the difference.

they probaly thought is was a redhead and banded it as such. takes a lot of years of experience and then the best biologist will have a probelm let alone a banding volunteer.

congrats on the jewelry anyway! :salude: