Hi Gary & Tweets:

I've forwarded an old (2003) post from Kelly McAllister about nasal disks on
scoters. This sounds like it might be the same type of tag as what you saw
on the goldeneye.
Does anyone know if these birds are being tagged or who is doing it?

Ruth Taylor
Seattle/Ballard
rutht at seanet.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly Mcallister <mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 9:39 AM
Subject: Nasal disks on Scoters


>Hi Tweets,
>
>In the past month, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, largely because of
the
>hard work of Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program staff, have implanted
>5 male and 5 female White-winged Scoters with satellite transmitters. We
hope
>that tracking their movements to breeding areas, molting areas, and
elsewhere
>will help us to better understand why scoters are in decline.
>
>In addition to the birds with satellite transmitters, there are 10
White-winged
>Scoters and 23 Surf Scoters (none of which have the satellite transmitters)
>which were opportunistically fitted with nasal tags. The tags are plastic
and
>there is one plastic piece on each side of the bill, fastened through the
nares.
>We are hoping that these birds will be resighted. Ideally, observers will
be
>able to report the characteristics of the marker on each side of the bill.
Most
>of the birds have a different color and shape on right and left sides. The
colors
>used were blue, green, orange, purple, red, white, and yellow. The shapes
were
>round, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, and y-shaped.
>
>These birds were captured and subsequently released in the south Puget
Sound
>area, Peale's passage (between Squaxin and Hartstene Islands) and Henderson
>Inlet.
>
>I'm hoping we can generate some interest in scrutiny of scoter flocks
looking
>for these markers so that a better understanding of movements can be
achieved
>which will, in the end, help to conserve the species.
>
>Having now seen scoters up close and personal, they are beautiful birds.
>
>Kelly McAllister
>Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
>Olympia, Washington
>Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov
>
>
>