August SS turnout in 2010

Over one hundred and fifty people attended this Second Saturday, the largest turnout I can remember ever showing up without being seduced by the promise of food. A gentle cool breeze from the northwest wafted its way across the water until the rising sun raised the temperature well above 90 degrees.. DU volunteers manned a variety of demonstrations from duck calling and banding to mounting a duck skin to bird retrieval by trained dogs. Friends of Mid-Columbia NWR Complex greeted visitors and directed them to the areas of demonstrations. Visitors ranged from age 84 to 3 and many came early for the duck banding where children could hold the birds for the NWR staff to apply the band then carried the birds for release to the pond. The ducks showed their appreciation of release by flying frantically away to the far reaches of the water looking back with haughty expressions that said, "How dare you humuliate me like this?" Birds are just one level below mammals in the evolutionary scale so why shouldn't they view us with disdain when burdened with an ankle bracelet by those two legged creatures so much taller and sneakier than feathered ones? The light metal bands are imbedded with the McNary Refuge and date of banding so when a bird is retrieved anywhere by a hunter or anyone else it will be reported. This is the manner which has created a large data base for wildlife specialist and duck enthusiasts for decades.

Naomi Sherer