Jeff sits down with Brian Huber and Jason Coslovich to unpack this summer’s banding push and preseason pintail work—what changed with more water on the landscape, how night-lighting in the Klamath Basin actually happens, and why your band reports keep California’s harvest models honest.

What’s inside

• Sac Valley bounce-back: swim-in traps, summer water, and a strong run of molting mallards and wood ducks.
• Klamath after dark: airboats, spotlights, big crates—plus what red-painted bands mean and how crews avoid re-capturing fresh birds.
• Transmitters 101: what they reveal about nesting and molt, the tradeoffs for different species, and why units keep upgrading the tech.
• Preseason pintail nets: how state/CWA crews coordinate shots, handle big mixed flocks, and keep mortality low.
• Oddballs & highlights: redheads and ruddy ducks in force, shorebirds with tiny tags, and a handful of long-lived recaptures.
• Do your part: how to return a transmitter, why reporting every band matters, and how those data feed adaptive harvest decisions.
• Get involved: Aleutian trapping help, the Colusa Dinner, college camps, and the Rice Levee nesting program (with grower payments).

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