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Duck hunting season is over in many place and most hunters have plenty of theories and ideas about waterfowl behavior. Ducks Unlimited has been working on several projects to bring technology in and explain waterfowl behavior even more.

Examples of ducks and technology include:

An Arkansas Game and Fish Commission project being led by Andrew James along with former AGFC biologist and current DU regional biologist Mike Checkett to study the spring and fall migration of mallards.

In November 2004, DU and its partners trapped and radioed American black ducks on Long Island for a ground-breaking research project to study their wintering and spring habitats as well as the food resources of this species.

Conservation Planning and Geographic Information Systems are two tools that Ducks Unlimited's Great Lakes/Atlantic Regional office is using to enable regional biologist to be more effective and efficient on a large geographic landscape.

"We all know that ducks sometimes fly great distances and often at great heights, but we've never seen ducks in space until now," Checkett said. "In actuality, the ducks are not in space but are being tracked by satellites orbiting in space as improvements in technology have allowed research biologists to go high-tech and attempts to unravel waterfowl mysteries."

To help unlock those mysteries in Arkansas the study trapped 28 mallards in eastern and northwestern Arkansas in late February and early March and fitted with satellite transmitters known as platform transmitter terminals (PTTs). PTTs send signals to satellites every three days until their batteries die. In this study, battery life should last 10-11 months.

"Tracking birds through the fall migration period will increase our understanding of the proportionate use of fall staging areas, migration corridors and the timing of mallard movements during fall migration relative to winter climatic conditions and habitat conditions," James said. "Equally as important is to learn spring migration routes and to identify spring staging areas, where hens gain fat prior to arrival at their breeding destination, by tracking mallards through spring and summer, we hope to make valuable discoveries that will help us focus our conservation efforts and identify habitat programs that will aid mallards."

Final results will not be available until all the data can be collected on the Arkansas mallard tracking survey and will be released later.

The black duck study has the same goal as the mallard with DU trying to help duck populations.

"As a conservation organization, we are challenged with designing habitat programs to meet the needs of birds," said Tina Yakes, director of conservation planning, Great Lakes/Atlantic Regional office of Ducks Unlimited. "Without the scientific knowledge of those needs, it is difficult to ensure that we are proving not only enough habitat, but the right kinds of habitat."

That is the kind of information biologists and people that care about the future of duck hunting want to know. They're hoping technology will provide a way to find out.

"Whatever we can do to help understand ducks better is a plus," Checkett said. "We're always looking for new ways to do it."

Todd Vinyard is a sportswriter for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.