Waterfowl managers and researchers must often capture ducks to band, mark, or measure. During fall and winter, cannon nets, walk-in bait traps, or swim-in traps with funnel entrances are commonly used to capture ducks. During the breeding and post-breeding periods, when the diet of many dabbling ducks is dominated by aquatic invertebrates, birds often respond poorly to bait traps. Decoy traps are an effective alternative to bait traps in spring and early summer because they rely on behavioral responses, not food, to attract and capture birds. Portable decoy traps employ one or more live 'decoy' ducks confined at a highly visible, over-water site. Wild ducks are captured when they attempt to approach these decoy birds.
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