Rare Duck Once Reduced to a Handful of Birds, Now Flourishing

Conservation efforts for one of the world’s most endangered species, the Laysan Teal, have been succeeding. According to federal biologists, the birds had a very successful breeding season in 2007. The total tally of adult and fledgling Laysan Teals on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge rose to approximately 200 ducks by year’s end, giving cause for optimism from refuge biologists. This is only the third year for a program to trap ducks in the wild and carefully transport them by ship from their only remaining population on Laysan Island to re-establish a second population on Midway, part of their former historic range. A program is scheduled to begin in 2008 that will enable the public to visit Midway to see the ducks in the wild. See http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1843 for more information.