Michelle:

The Mariannas Mallard I have in my lap is quiet because my concealed
hand holds one wing and a leg. We kept it in the bath tub in our hotel
room. It was a rather gentle bird. We netted two males, but turned one
loose hoping it would meet some willing lady friend. I flew back from
Saipan via Guam with the bird we kept in a small bag. Customs were
dumfounded, but I had no trouble with them because I knew them. Later a
Saipanese biologist who we trained to use a mist net netted a female
which was sent to us in a small cage. Saipanese officials notified us so
we were at the airport to meet it. Customs officials just shook their
head. Crazy bird people.

Ernie Kosaka from my office and I toasted the occasion with a 5th of
champagne. We hoped we would eventually hear the patter of little webbed
feet. Took it up to the Nene propagation facility. Later I retired. Then
the Fish and Wildlife Service sent the pair to the San Diego Zoo who
supposedly had some expert propagaters. No luck. They died there. With
their passing, Anas platyrhynchos oustaleti is now considered extinct.
None have been seen in 20 years. Alas, we tried, we tried. I have 15x20
pictures of both the male and the female in my den.

It joins two other species of Hawaiian birds which I had seen many years
ago which also are extinct. Sad.

You may have noted that the Short-tailed Albatross I'm holding is
considerably larger than the Black-footed Albatross close by. As the
inscription on the back of the picture notes, it was banded on the
Japanese Island of Torishima nine years previously.
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Albatross could be easily captured by hand, but you had to be really
quick, or they'd slash your hand or arm with their hooked beak. Also,
you had to be darned quick in releasing them, or they'd give you the
same parting gift. They have quick.reflexes.
When I was helping Chan Robbins trying to solve the bird hazard to
aircraft problem on Midway in 1964-65, we banded 6,000 Laysans and
Blackfoots in one year and recaptured another 9,000 birds that had been
banded previously in other years. Boy, our arms were really cut up. And
it was hard on the knees and back. Our boots and clothes stunk to the
high heavens with used squid oil as the birds would upchuck on us. After
five washings, your hands still had an aroma. It's a wonder the Navy let
us in their BOQ let alone their dining hall. Whew! Fun and Games? Not!
It's a wonder they didn't throw us into the ocean on the way back to
Honolulu. Banding discloses that Laysans and Blackfoots can live up to
40 years, maybe more.

Gene Kridler


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