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Animal Sciences Commons

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Zoology

Papers in Ornithology

Series

2011

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Use Of Nape Tags For Marking Offspring Of Precocial Waterbirds, Todd W. Arnold, Daizaburo Shizuka, Bruce E. Lyon, Jeffrey T. Pelayo, Katherine R. Mehl, Joshua J. Traylor, Wendy L. Reed, Courtney L. Amundson Jan 2011

Use Of Nape Tags For Marking Offspring Of Precocial Waterbirds, Todd W. Arnold, Daizaburo Shizuka, Bruce E. Lyon, Jeffrey T. Pelayo, Katherine R. Mehl, Joshua J. Traylor, Wendy L. Reed, Courtney L. Amundson

Papers in Ornithology

Individualized markers that allow organisms to be identified without recapture are invaluable for studies of survival, movement, and behavior. Nape tags consisting of brass safety pins with unique combinations of two or three colored plastic beads were used to mark 5,868 American Coot (Fulica americana) chicks and 331 Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), 157 King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) and 664 White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca deglandi) ducklings. These markers allowed for documentation of parent-offspring interactions, post-hatching survival, brood movements and brood-mixing behaviors. Nape tags were inexpensive, easy to make, easy to observe with binoculars …