Radio Flyers
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where we had to do surgeries on 10-15 ducks a night,” he says. “We’d go to 1-2 a.m.”

The team would like to return to the project this spring, Stafford says. He’d like to see satellite tracking employed, but the technology is not affordable for large-scale projects like his.

Stafford hopes the project will teach the preserve how to make the most of its resources by showing the mallards’ locations and flight patterns.

“Those are the types of questions that we have to answer, because that drives the allocation of conservation dollars to put habitats in the right places,” he says. “And that’s driven by food. If we don’t know how long they stay, we don’t know how many ducks we’ve got to feed, and for how long.”

He adds that this year’s ducks stayed an unusually long time because of flooding, especially along the Sangamon River, and unusually warm weather.

“This year was really goofy,” he says. Funding comes from a grant by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Some money comes through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, a 10 percent excise tax hunters pay on items like ammunition.

The research (funded jointly with a study on ducks, geese and swans) also received $206,523 in federal aid, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The state must match those funds by 25 percent before receiving federal money, Stafford says.

Though her project will soon be over, DeVito won’t be giving up her interest in ducks any time soon.

“From the first time I caught and tagged a mallard, I was hooked,” she says.

Contact Diane Ivey at [email protected]