Duck Decoys Research Articles

The landscape is a trap: Duck decoys as multispecies atmospheres of deception and betrayal

AbstractDuck decoys are trapping devices designed to catch ducks. From the fourteenth century onwards, duck decoys emerged in riverine lowlands in northwestern Europe. Their operation is based on a rigorously maintained physical structure with a woodland that encloses a water body with protruding extensions called pipes, which end in nets and are surrounded by reed screens. Catching ducks in these places requires a complex interplay between different groups of ducks, a dog, and a human decoyman who together are enmeshed in what becomes a deeply deceptive landscape. This paper explores duck decoys in the Netherlands as relational, situated and co‐designed multispecies atmospheres. Through ethnographic descriptions of field visits, interviews and by drawing on historical accounts, we trace how inter‐ and intraspecies relations and behaviours are interpreted in terms of deception, betrayal, trust and curiosity. The varying interpretations of behaviours and the more‐than‐human knowledges at play reflect the essentially elusive character of the duck decoy. Especially when facing the environmental challenges of the Anthropocene, duck decoys and the ambiguous relations that were until recently maintained in them, encourage us to consider the historical trapping and hunting landscapes as places made by multispecies atmospheres. Even though these atmospheres and the intimate collectives of human and more‐than‐human lives have become increasingly fragile, their afterlives resonate through the changing character of the riverine landscape and its various waterfowl, as well as practices of knowing and conserving biodiversity.

Dispatches from Kolob

Dispatches from Kolob

Swapping mallards: monocular imprints in ducklings are unavailable to the opposite eye

Eutherian mammals are unique in that sensory input from each eye is exchanged and shared between left and right brain hemispheres through the corpus callosum. All other vertebrates lack this structure and hence interocular information exchange is more restricted, raising issues of how information acquired with each eye contributes to the control of behaviour. Studies of food hoarding, laboratory-based discrimination tasks and homing in birds show that information acquired with one eye is not immediately available for action guided by the opposite one. We investigated interocular transfer, using filial imprinting in pekin ducklings, Anas platyrhynchos domestica, as our experimental system. In experiment 1 we imprinted hatchlings on either of two duck decoys, in three treatments differing on whether (A) birds were trained and later tested for a following response binocularly, (B) trained and tested monocularly, with the same eye, or (C) trained and tested monocularly, with opposite eyes. Birds preferred the training decoy for at least 3 h after imprinting in treatments A and B, but were indifferent in C. In experiment 2 birds were imprinted sequentially with two decoys, in three treatments where they were (D) trained and tested binocularly, (E) trained monocularly with a different decoy for each eye and tested monocularly with each eye, or (F) trained monocularly with a different decoy for each eye and tested binocularly. In treatment D ducklings were close to indifference, with a weak preference for the most recent decoy. In treatment E preference weakly favoured the decoy used during imprinting with the eye being tested. Finally, in treatment F there was no evidence for dominance of either eye. Thus, imprinting information is laterally isolated for at least 3 h, the experience status of the opposite eye (naive or with a competing imprinting) has a small effect and we found no evidence for eye dominance.

ASSESSMENT OF THE RATES OF INJURY AND MORTALITY IN WATERFOWL CAPTURED WITH FIVE METHODS OF CAPTURE AND TECHNIQUES FOR MINIMIZING RISKS.

Swan pipes, duck decoys, cage traps, cannon netting, and roundups are widely used to capture waterfowl in order to monitor populations. These methods are often regulated in countries with national ringing or banding programs and are considered to be safe, and thus justifiable given the benefits to conservation. However, few published studies have addressed how frequently injuries and mortalities occur, or the nature of any injuries. In the present study, rates of mortality and injury during captures with the use of these methods carried out by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust as part of conservation programs were assessed. The total rate of injury (including mild dermal abrasions) was 0.42% across all species groups, whereas total mortality was 0.1% across all capture methods. Incidence of injury varied among species groups (ducks, geese, swans, and rails), with some, for example, dabbling ducks, at greater risk than others. We also describe techniques used before, during, and after a capture to reduce stress and injury in captured waterfowl. Projects using these or other capture methods should monitor and publish their performance to allow sharing of experience and to reduce risks further.

Crane dances as play behaviour

All species of crane (Gruidae) engage in a spectacular behaviour known as dancing (Ellis et al. 1998). Crane dances have inspired humans since the Stone Age (Russell & McGowan 2003), and imitation dances are known in numerous human cultures worldwide (Armstrong 1943). However, the function of this behaviour is poorly understood, and explanations for it are sometimes contradictory. Lorenz (1963) considered crane dance to be an appeasement ceremony. However, this explanation cannot be true in many situations in which dances are performed. Cranes dance most often when relaxed, and often while not involved in any obvious social interaction; they also sometimes dance while alone (Potapov et al. 1987; V. Dinets pers. obs.). It is known that dances are particularly common in unpaired sub-adults; a common explanation is that dancing facilitates socialization and pair formation (Archibald & Meine 1996). However, sub-adults in well-established flocks dance more often than in those in recently formed flocks, where the need for socialization would presumably be higher (Potapov et al. 1987). Also, birds begin dancing very early in life, sometimes when just 2 days old, long before they are old enough to form pairs (Archibald & Meine 1996). In the reintroduced flock of Whooping Crane Grus americanus in Louisiana, year-old birds in flocks dance frequently (V. Dinets pers. obs.), even though cranes of this species do not start breeding until they are at least 2, and more commonly 3 years old (Allen 1952). Interestingly, yearlings that are not in flocks dance less often (V. Dinets pers. obs.); adults in established pairs seldom dance (Archibald & Meine 1996). So while it seems likely that dancing is a form of social behaviour, it seems unlikely that its primary function in subadults is socialization and pair formation. Dancing can also serve as displacement activity when cranes are nervous, but in most cases it is not performed in response to readily apparent stimuli (Archibald & Meine 1996). It usually occurs when the birds are relaxed and at ease (Potapov et al. 1987) and is often contagious (Archibald & Meine 1996). At the autumn staging grounds of Demoiselle Crane Antropoides virgo in Mongolia, thousands of individuals can sometimes be seen dancing at the same time (V. Dinets pers. obs.). Finally, it is important to note that courtship rituals of cranes involve prolonged bouts of dancing. In this case, the function of dancing seems to be obvious. But this is unlikely to apply to dances by immature birds, unpaired adults and migratory/ wintering flocks. Cranes are known to be playful birds. Although no study of play behaviour in cranes has been published, people working with captive cranes report that play behaviour is common, particularly in juveniles and sub-adults. Such observations exist for Whooping and Sandhill Grus canadensis Cranes (J. Chandler pers. comm.), for Redcrowned Grus japonensis, White-naped Grus vipio, Common Grus grus, Siberian Grus leucogeranus, Hooded Grus monachus and Demoiselle Cranes (V.E. Flint pers. comm.), and for Grey Crownedcrane Balearica regulorum (B. Machedra pers. comm.). Re-introduced Whooping Cranes (yearlings) in Louisiana have been reported to play with Styrofoam duck and geese decoys, sometimes breaking them apart in the process (P. Lamartiniere pers. comm.). On some occasions, dancing is combined with object play (T.L. Perkins pers. comm.). It is reasonable to suggest that dancing is also a form of play behaviour, at least when performed outside a pair-forming context. This has been suggested before (Archibald & Meine 1996), but only in passing. Burghardt (2005) developed a set of five criteria for determining whether a certain behaviour can be classified as play. These criteria are now widely *Email: dinets@gmail.com

Janet Kear OBE, 1933–2004

Janet Kear OBE, 1933–2004

The Fox Hunt

FEATURED AUTHOR—FICTION The Fox Hunt Lisa Alther THE JEEP SHUDDERED ALONG THE DIRT ROAD, its hood bobbing like a duck decoy on rough waters. Sunlight danced through the rust and mustard foliage. Palmer felt like a kid laying out of school. Even if he did own the company. But he was, after all, out here on business. Julius was an expensive dog. His ancestors had been lead hounds for the best hunts in Virginia, right back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. But Lucas had implied on the phone this morning that Julius might not make it. He and Lucas rode away from the clearing, Julius hanging across Lucas's saddle, his neck ripped open and oozing black blood. "We'll take him to the vet in Beulah," said Palmer, who had raised Julius from a puppy and helped Lucas train him. Lucas shrugged. "Ain't no use." Palmer sighed. Lucas always turned as fatalistic as a Europeanpeasant in the face of a crisis. "Don't be ridiculous. He'll be fine." Reaching the top of the rise, Palmer surveyed Red Hatcher's bottom land, spread out below like an old burlap feed sack. That soil there along the riverbank used to be pretty rich, but you couldn't say much for it now. Looked like he'd sown winter oats, just sprouting. Red drove his land as hard as the antique tractor he worked it with. The Jeep jolted down the hill, the power lift on the back clanking. Palmer spotted some fresh stumps and brush piles in a woods Red was leveling for more pasture. That man razed rather than cleared. He didn't plow, he gouged. Four boys in bib overalls marched up Rollers's valley, tobacco-stake rifles on their shoulders. Palmer was leading, his Confederate great-grandfather's sword hangingfrom his waist, scabbard tip etching the earth. "Halt-two-three-four!" barked Palmer. "All you men down in that trench on your bellies!" The boys peered into the drainage ditch by the rosa multiflora hedgerow as the enemy closed in. 13 "On the double!" They jumped in, sinking to their knees in mud. Palmer crawled beneath the hedge to inspect the advancing Yankees. Red's carrot-colored crewcut appeared above the Up of the ditch. "Ain't you comin down here too, Palmer?" "Head down, soldier! Do you want it blown off?" Red leapt out ofthe ditch. Twisting Palmer's arm into a hammerlock, he forced him to the edge. "Palmer — sir, I ain't playing at your goddam game no more." He hurled Palmerface-first into the slime and stalked offdown the valley, swinging at grasshoppers with his tobacco stake. Gazing at Palmer with vacant blue eyes, Lucas Bledsoe helped him out of the mud. But he didn't reply when Palmer asked, "Why'd he do thatfor?" Red's fencing needed help fast. A couple of posts had rotted, dragging the barbed wire to the ground. Last week Red had come up to him by the tobacco barn, struggling to sound amiable, despite the stubborn jut to his red-bristled jaw. "Y'all right today, Palmer?" "Fine, thanks, Red. And you?" "Tell you the truth, I got me some problems." He slipped a kitchen matchstick between his lips and began to chew it. "What's up?" asked Palmer, even though he already knew, since he went to Rotary meetings with every banker in town. "Reckon you could make me a loan? Through the winter? Whatever interest you think's fair." Red gazed at the ancient oaks on the far hillside. He was humiliated. But it was his own damn fault. "I'm sorry, Red." He had been too, even though he could see how much better off Red would be in the end. "But I'm no banker. Have you tried Beulah Savings and Loan?" "Hell, they's a mortgage on ever last one of my damn cows." His bony face began to twitch. Palmer shifted his own gaze to the oaks on the hill. "My offer still holds: I cover the bills. We split the profits. Cash for your land. Fair market value. Same as my father did with Lucas...

Attitudes About Recreation, Environmental Problems, and Estuarine Health Along the New Jersey Shore, USA.

/ Management of ecosystems has advanced by an improvement in our understanding not only of how ecosystems function, but of how people perceive their functioning and what they consider to be environmental problems within those systems. Central to such management is understanding how people view estuaries. In this article I explore the perceptions and attitudes of people about coastal recreation, environmental problems, and future land use along the New Jersey shore (USA) by interviewing people who attended a duck decoy and craft show on Barnegat Bay. The people who were interviewed engaged in more days of fishing than any other recreational activity and engaged in camping the least. There were significant differences in recreational rates as a function of gender and location of residence, with men hunting and fishing more than women and photographing less than women. Jet skis were perceived as the most severe environmental problem, with chemical pollution, junk, oil runoff and overfishing as second level problems. Birds were perceived as not an environmental problem at all. Fishing, hiking, preservation, and camping ranked as the highest preferred future land uses for the two sites examined (Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Naval Weapons Station Earle). The preferred future land uses for these two sites, which are not under consideration for land-use changes, were very similar to those of people living near the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, despite the media attention and considerations of nuclear storage.KEY WORDS: Recreation; Perceptions; Environmental problem; Gender; Land use; Coastal

The Protector Species Hypothesis: Do Black Skimmers Find Refuge from Predators in Gull‐billed Tern Colonies?

AbstractThe protector‐species hypothesis explains mixed‐species coloniality on the basis of benefits individuals of a species may receive by nesting with another species, the ‘protector’ species, that responds aggressively to potential threats. The reactions of nesting individuals to both natural and model predators were observed to determine whether black skimmers (Rhynchops niger) gain an antipredator advantage by nesting with gull‐billed terns (Sterna nilotica). Observations of natural predators were gathered from three mixed‐species and three single‐species (black skimmers) subcolonies. Natural predators most commonly encountered by the colonies were herring gulls (Larus argentatus), laughing gulls (Larus atricilla), and ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres). Gull‐billed terns responded to the gulls, but not to the turnstones, in higher proportions than did black skimmers. Two decoys, a mink and a gull, were used to simulate predatory encounters, and a duck decoy was used as a control at two mixed‐species and one single‐species subcolonies. Gull‐billed terns responded in significantly higher proportions than did skimmers to all decoy treatments in the mixed‐species subcolonies. Mobbing of both natural and model predators by the terns suggests that skimmers may gain a reproductive advantage by nesting with these terns. However, the response of black skimmers to both natural and simulated predators was independent of the presence of gull‐billed terns in the colony, indicating that black skimmers may not perceive these objects as threats, or may react differently to predators than do gull‐billed terns.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES ABOUT FISH SAFETY IN A COASTAL POPULATION

Behavioral approaches to reducing the adverse health effects of consuming fish with high contaminant levels benefit from understanding attitudes and perceptions about the relative safety of fish. Gender differences in attitudes about fish safety were investigated by interviewing 197 m en and 94 wom en who attended a Duck Decoy show at Tuckerton, NJ. There were significant gender differences in perceptions of the safety of fish, ducks, and deer, with women generally believing that it was less safe to eat these foods than did men. Although people correctly perceived that ocean fish were safer than bay-caught fish from a chemical contaminant perspective, perceptions were less clear with respect to consuming predatory or herbivorous, or large versus small fish. Although men significantly perceived small fish as safer than large fish, women did not. However, people correctly believed that bluefish (a predaceous fish) were less safe than flounder (an herbivore) . People uniformly believed it was safer to eat fish they caught themselves or bought in a fish store than those from a supermarket. These results suggest that any program to inform the public about the potential dangers from contaminated fish should take into account gender differences in perceptions.

America's Oldest Basketry

We have determined the earliest calibrated dates on three types of basketry from the Great Basin of western North America. The oldest twined basketry dates to 10,380–10,918 cal bp, reed duck decoys to 2355–2773 cal bp, and wooden sandals of sagebrush bark or twined tule to 9247–10,375 cal bp and 9242–9836 cal bp, respectively.

The Staircase, vol. 1: History and Theories; vol. 2: Studies of Hazards, Falls, and Safer Design by John Templer

892 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGYAND CULTURE Organization.” Other smaller categories include forty-three entries under “Reproductive Technology,” the aforementioned survey of women and technology in developing nations, and a curious emphasis on women airplane pilots. To begin each category, Bindocci has chosen a number of marvelous archival photographs, mosdy of American women in the interwar period. Compiling a substantial bibliography such as this one can be a thankless task. Therefore those of us who work on subjects relating to women and technology owe Cynthia Bindocci a debt ofgratitude for the time and effort she has spent to aid our scholarship. Arwen Mohun Dr. Mohun is assistant professor of history at the University of Delaware. The Staircase, vol. 1: History and Theories; vol. 2: Studies ofHazards, Falls, and SaferDesign. Byjohn Templer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1992. Pp. xiv+185; xvi+200; illustrations, tables, glossary, appendix, bibliog­ raphy, index. $27.50; $32.50; $55.00 the set. As the understated main title of this two-volume set suggests, The Staircasejoins that emerging family of exhaustive studies devoted to all possible aspects, historical and technological, of a single object type. So far we have seen The Pencil (Henry Petroski, 1989), TheAmerican Railroad Passenger Car (John H. White, 1982) and Freight Car (White, 1993), and Zipper (Robert Friedel, 1994). By their nature, such worthy studies court the danger of being labeled (usually incorrectly) as narrow exercises in connoisseurship, or worse, antiquarianism, with all the overtones of noncontextual wallowing in one’s favorite obsession. Collector groups have long produced great tomes on duck decoys, orange-crate labels, motorcycles, plumb bobs, and wrenches, happily excluding all other life forms and forces. This monophasism, however, pays considerable divi­ dends for the larger society when such specificity is allied with a broader understanding and treatment of human interactions that may or may not occur around the object ofattention. HereJohn Templer rises to the challenge, with a unified social and technical study of steps, those stationary but highly interactive rectangles of wood, metal, and stone that connect all levels of the built environment. As in Robin Evans’s Fabrication of Virtue: English Prison Architecture, 1750-1840 (Cambridge, 1982), Templer looks both at how a structural system has evolved over the centuries and at the various impacts of this system on its users, a pair of goals well beyond the scope of Cleo Baldon and lb Melchior’s pretty but shallow Steps and Stairways (New York, 1989). Steps, climbing poles, ladders, ramps, handrails, companionways, and great sweeping staircases in all their dogleg and helical variations come before Templer’s gaze. As a senior professor of architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, Templer adopts the mantles of archi­ TECHNOLOGYAND CULTURE Book Reviews 893 tectural engineer and social scientist in deconstructing every square inch ofa stair’s working surfaces, preferably a well-worn stair that reveals patterns of habitual use. At the heart ofTempler’s study is the realization that stairs historically have been mistaken (largely by architects and builders) as architectural elements like columns or pediments, when they actually are architec­ tonic, functional pieces of hardware that also happen to work visually with the surrounding structure. Elevators and escalators tend to be designed by mechanical engineers rather than architects. Templer shows throughout this pair of books that stairs deserve no less consid­ eration simply because they appear to be static and aesthetic. The first volume, History and Theories, gives us Templer the globe­ trotting stairway climber, seeking out stairs of all ages, primarily in Europe and South America. His black-and-white snapshots are often small and fuzzy, but they capture the full sweep of this universal means of ascent and descent: the careworn stone steps to religious shrines of the ancient world, regal risers in the palaces of France and Italy, sword-scarred turret spirals inside cashes of feudal England, all furnish­ ing indisputable evidence of stair behavior over time. “The staircase,” Templer declares, “ is art object, structural idea, manifestation of pomp and manners, behaviorial setting, controller of our gait, political icon, legal prescription, poetic fancy, or the locus of an epidemic of cruel and injurious falls” (p. x). From Vitruvius to Venturi, Templer charts the work of the great architects...

Duck decoys, with particular reference to the history of bird ringing

The Dutch decoy of the sixteenth century is described. It was a sophisticated device for catching ducks that depended, for its effectiveness, upon the mobbing response that swimming wildfowl show to mammalian predators such as dogs and foxes. A great decline in the use of decoys for obtaining dead ducks for market occurred during the last century; however, in 1907, a decoy in Denmark was used for the first time as a trap to catch birds in order to release them individually ringed. The majority of ducks ringed in Britain have been caught in decoys, starting at Orielton in 1934. The results obtained have been valuable, and our knowledge of wildfowl migrations would be far less advanced had decoys not been available.

Commercial utilization of Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides, Cupressaceae)

Utilization of Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) is examined throughout the range of the species. The most important production area is North Carolina, with New Jersey and panhandle Florida-southern Alabama as secondary centers. The wood is used where its light weight, resistance to decay, and fragrance are of value—as siding and paneling for houses, planking for small- to mediumsized boats, fencing, decking, and lawn furniture, with smaller quantities used for such specialities as shingles and duck decoys. Harvest and manufacturing strategies are examined. Wholesale value of the manufactured products is calculated at $10 to $11.5 million. Annual production is estimated as 19 million board feet. The present forest inventory of standing trees is believed to be between 170 and 180 million board feet.

Duck Decoys from Lovelock Cave, Nevada, Dated by 14C Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Two of the 11 duck decoys found in Lovelock Cave, Nevada, over 60 years ago have recently been dated by the AMS technique. The resulting determinations are 2080 ± 330 B.P. and 2250 ± 230 B.P.

Johannes Mattheus Kieseling Een Rotterdamse glasgraveur uit Gotha

Johannes Mattheus Kieseling Een Rotterdamse glasgraveur uit Gotha

The response of Simulium (Eusimulium) euryadminiculum Davies (Diptera: Simuliidae) to some olfactory and visual stimuli

The response of Simulium euryadminiculum Davies towards silhouettes of different shapes and colors was observed, using an ether extract of the uropygial gland of the common loon to concentrate the flies in the experimental locality and "Tanglefoot" to trap the flies on the silhouettes. These simuliids were attracted primarily to the head–neck portion of duck decoys, most flies landing on the leeward side. The simuliids were attracted to the terminal (and most prominent) portions of artificial head–neck or cylindrical silhouettes; the distribution was not markedly influenced by the color of the silhouette. The number of flies attracted to three-dimensional targets was markedly influenced by color, black being the most attractive and white relatively unattractive. This selection of black by the fly may reflect its adaptation to the color of its natural host, the loon. Response of the flies to a two-dimensional (plane surface) target was essentially similar except that white was the most attractive color and black was relatively unattractive. Possibly this selection of white is associated with a resting response.

Innate factors in imprinting

Even though inanimate and unresponsive, a duck decoy produced much stronger imprinting of ducklings than a human being, indicating specific innate knowledge of the visual characteristics of the species as the parental object to be learned. While simultaneous imprinting of ducklings has been avoided by researchers because of possible imprinting to siblings, it was found to be just as effective as individual exposure in producing an attachment to the decoy. These findings indicate the importance of examining factors present in the natural situation in order to understand imprinting as an innately programmed process.

An Early Colonial Duck Decoy

An Early Colonial Duck Decoy

Stimulus preferences and imprinting.

Pekin ducklings were tested with respect to their preference for approaching one of two simultaneously presented, rotating, silent duck decoys, painted in a variety of colors or patterns. Some of the ducklings had not been given any previous visual experience other than that gained in a 20-minute introduction to the empty apparatus; others had previously been given the opportunity to follow one particular decoy for 20 minutes. The decoys could be grouped into three categories: those in the first category were treated as equivalent, that is, so long as the duckling had followed one of these models it would approach either. The decoys of the second category were ones to which "imprinting" occurred, that is, the ducklings showed a decided preference for the model they had originally followed, whichever it was. The third category included models, one of which was always preferred, though the controls showed no such preference. The effects of the imprinting procedure vary with the stimuli presented.