b'The warmer and dry conditions this summer should mean a bumper pheasant season for upland game bird hunters.When a hunter shoots a banded50km of the band site, we have hadcollected allows us to also predict bird, recovers the band, and reportsa few turn up just out of Invercargillthe mallard population size for the the band, we can tell how long itand three Waikato banded birdsup-and-coming season with some has lived and how far it has traveled. were recovered in New Caledonia! degree of accuracy.We then use Combining band data from all theThe editor of this very magazine,this vital information to help set the birds from each cohort, (birds born inMatt Hewetson shot a bandedseason regulations.the same year and are the same sexEastern mallard released near NapierThis year make sure that you report and age) allows us to examine theseveral years ago in the Kaiparayour bands if you bag any banded influence of season regulations anddistrict close to Dargaville that hadducks (phone 0800 BIRD BAND climate.From this we can determineflown over 500km. or 0800-247 322) and go into the what factors best explain changes inBand recovery data, and thedraw to win either a free Fish & annual survival. hunter survey allows us to estimateGame hunting licence, or great decoy Some of the recovery distances arethe population size.This is nowprizes that are gratefully sponsored amazing for some birds.Althoughthe twenty-eighth year we haveby Hunting and Fishing NZ, in most mallards are recovered withinbeen banding.The data we haveconjunction with Avery. /FISHINGINGODZONE77'