The Million Dollar Duck

I wrote about the "Duck Stamp" not long ago, HERE. The $800 million raised by the sale of stamps since its inception in 1934 has resulted in a LOT of on the ground conservation. Here in Ohio, about 89% of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge was purchased with stamp dollars. There are myriad similar stories around the country.

In short: purchasing a Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (as it is formally known) is perhaps the best $15 investment you can make to protect wildlife, no matter what your interests may be. Grasslands and wetlands purchased with Duck Stamp dollars doesn't just protect ducks, but the entire suite of plants and animals that depend upon these biologically rich habitats. Everyone benefits. Birders, botanists, dragonfliers, butterfliers, and of course, hunters.

Independent filmmaker Brian Davis is in the midst of producing the first documentary about the stamp. It promises to be interesting, and should be a big boost to getting the message of conservation into new quarters. Davis seeks funds to make this project a reality, and you can contribute via Kickstarter. He's most of the way to his goal, and the deadline to donate comes this Friday morning.

Check out the trailer below; it'll tell you all about "The Million Dollar Duck". To donate to this worthwhile project, CLICK HERE.

Duck Stamps evidence that good can come from bad

Canvasbacks, by Adam Grimm. Grimm's artwork will grace the newest Duck Stamp

Duck Stamps evidence that good can come from bad

The Columbus Dispatch
Sunday, October 6, 2013

NATURE
Jim McCormac

On May 9, 1934, a dust storm of Armageddon-like magnitude roared through the Great Plains, tossing tons of dirt skyward. The drought- stricken area was in the midst of the Dust Bowl, and its sun-baked soil was swirling aloft in great black clouds.

Chicago, well to the east, was coated with an estimated 6,000 tons of windblown earth.

The human toll from the Dust Bowl was great, and so was the cost to wildlife. Ducks, already hammered by unregulated hunting and wetland losses, were battered by the Dust Bowl. Conservation-minded people became alarmed by the decline in waterfowl populations.

In 1934 — the same year as the epic storm that grimed the Windy City — the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp was launched. It has since become better known as the Duck Stamp.

Purchasing a stamp was — and is — required to hunt waterfowl, but hunters almost universally supported the stamp’s creation even if it was a tax on their sport.

The Duck Stamp is one of the most successful conservation strategies in history. In the 80 years since its inception, the stamp has generated more than $800 million, which has been used to purchase or lease more than 6 million acres of prime habitat — an area larger than New Jersey. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has been a competent manager of Duck Stamp money: 98 cents of every dollar goes to land acquisition.

Habitats purchased by stamp money help ducks, but that’s not all. One-third of federally endangered and threatened plants and animals are supported by Duck Stamp purchases.

Ohioans needn’t travel far to see proof of duck-driven biodiversity. About 89 percent of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge near Toledo was bought with stamp dollars. The refuge harbors ducks galore but also least bitterns, leopard frogs, bronzed copper butterflies, Eastern fox snakes, wild rice and more. It’s also one of the most popular bird-watching locales in the Great Lakes region.

The inaugural Duck Stamp featured a beautiful painting of a pair of mallards by Jay “Ding” Darling, the stamp’s architect. This established the framework of original artworks selected by a jury. The 1934 stamp cost $1; the 2013 stamp, $15. Today, a mint 1934 stamp is worth about $600.

It’s a huge honor for an artist to win the stamp art contest. To date, 59 artists have done so, with only a dozen winning multiple times.

On Sept. 28, Elyria native Adam Grimm entered an artistically rarefied atmosphere when his painting of a pair of canvasbacks was selected for the 81st Duck Stamp. He had won in 2000 at age 21 with his rendering of a mottled duck. Grimm walks the talk: He invested earnings from his art into habitat restoration at the Ottawa refuge.

Anyone interested in nature can also help by buying a stamp. You’ll never spend a better 15 bucks.
For more information, visit www.fws.gov/duck stamps.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac. blogspot.com.

Duck Stamp Winner

In case you hadn't heard, Joseph Hautman of Plymouth, Minnesota won the competition for the 2012-13 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, which is far better known as just the "Duck Stamp". Hautman's gorgeous rendering of a drake Wood Duck (above) will grace the new stamp, which goes on sale July 1st, 2012.

Incredibly, this win is Joe's 4th - quite a feat. Many cream of the crop artists vie to have their work featured on the stamp, and the competitions are always ferocious. Adam Grimm, a former Ohio resident and well known to many here, placed second with his painting of a Gadwall.

The Duck Stamp was first unveiled in 1934 as a vehicle to raise much needed funds for land acquisition. It's been a successful program, having raised over $750 million to date. Ninety-eight cents of every dollar raised by stamp sales goes to land acquisition - a percentage probably unmatched by any conservation organization. Nearly 5.5 million (MILLION!) acres have been purchased or leased with Duck Stamp dollars. Over 90% of the funds for Ohio's only federal refuge, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, came via the stamp program.

While waterfowl conservation is the driving force behind the Duck Stamp program, it's always important to keep in mind that an enormous collage of flora and fauna comprises the wetlands and prairies that are protected through this program. Botanists, birders, entomologists, and even mushroom hunters benefit in addition to waterfowl hunters. If you support conservation, consider buying a $15.00 Duck Stamp. They can be ordered RIGHT HERE. Besides, the stamps are miniature lickable works of art.

Common Goldeneye: Aquatic Break-dancer

Photo: John Pogacnik

NATURE
The Columbus Dispatch
February 7th, 2010
Jim McCormac

Goldeneye striking in looks, action

Probably no other group of birds has had the impact on conservation that waterfowl has. Most people are familiar with the mallards and Canada geese that frequent ponds, but there is much more to the ducky crowd. Forty-three species of ducks, geese, and swans have occurred in Ohio, and most of them are common, at least in migration.

In the 1930’s, Dust Bowl droughts had depleted North America’s waterfowl to perilously low levels. From the dusty ashes of near catastrophe arose a group that is now one of the world’s most effective conservation organizations. The year 1937 marked the formation of Ducks Unlimited, and in their 73 year history they’ve raised $3 billion which has gone to protect well over 12 million acres of habitat.

A good thing, as waterfowl rank high among our most interesting, beautiful birds. And protecting their habitat also safeguards scores of other animals, and lots of plants, too.

Hardy beasts, waterfowl are among the very first migrants to push north in spring. Today’s date is February 7th – very much winter in our eyes – but already the spring wanderlust is striking some ducks.

One of the toughest of this crowd is the common goldeneye. These diving ducks will stay about as far north as open water can be found, cavorting in the icy water of open leads as comfortably as if afloat in a tropical sea. Goldeneyes are already chomping at the bit, moving north as fast as thaws open up water, in their quest to reach northern breeding grounds.

Drake goldeneyes are art sculpted in feathers. Black and white is the dominant theme, creating a gorgeous piebald pattern. It’s as if the male’s head was dunked in inky paint, the jet-black noggin marked with an oval white spot just aft of the bill. Brilliant yellow eyes appear as topaz jewels imbedded in coal, their contrast lending the duck a perpetually surprised appearance.

Some ducks merely tip up in shallow water to feed, their butts sticking above the surface. Not so the goldeneye. These are divers, plunging down deep to harvest goodies unavailable to fowl that only dabble at the surface. Watching feeding goldeneyes cavorting among ice floes gives one a real respect for avian engineering and the insulating ability of feathers. A human submerged in such waters would be lucky to last 20 minutes.

About now, hormones flood drake goldeneyes and their thoughts turn to the ladies. Coy and aloof, the somber brown hens require work to woo. So, stud goldeneyes become aquatic break-dancers, pulling out all the stops to get the girl. A courting male throws his head back till his bill is vertical, folding into a floating pretzel. It’ll then scoot forward, thrusting a pair of brilliant orange webbed feet from the water, all the while shaking its head and pirouetting about.

It must work. Common goldeneyes are still common.

Jim McCormac

Further Afield

One of the easiest, most effective ways to help waterfowl and wetlands is by purchasing a Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, more popularly known as the “Duck Stamp”. The 2010 stamp features a gorgeous American wigeon . Since its inception in 1934, Duck Stamp sales have generated over $750 million, and protected nearly 5 ½ million acres.

Duck stamps will be available at a waterfowl symposium to be held the weekend of February 27-28 at the new Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus. Keynote speaker is Dr. Azzam Alwash, who leads restoration efforts of the massive wetlands flanked by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq. Conference details are HERE. Stamps can also be purchased at many post offices, and at: http://www.duckstamp.com/mm5/

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Space limitations in the newspaper sometimes lead to editing down my column. I am able to reprint the entire, original column here.