I gotta admit it: I just love the 2009-10 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, better known as the Duck Stamp. It goes on sale this Friday, June 26.
You can see the stamp at right, on the home page of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, and really well on the website of Joshua Spies, the talented South Dakota artist who painted it.
It's a stunner.
I guess it's because I have a soft spot for the Long-tailed Duck, the species depicted on the stamp, and because I've never really minded cold weather much, that I like it so much. Long-tails, you see, are common along the Lake Michigan shore here in Wisconsin from November through April -- the coldest months of the year.
Catching a glimpse of them bobbing on wintry gray water off Racine or Milwaukee or up in Sheboygan means bundling up -- wearing layers of fleece under my winter coat, pulling my Packers hat low over my ears, and working the fine focus of my spotting scope with mittens on. The get-up makes me feel like the younger brother in the movie A Christmas Story ("I can't put my arms down! I can't put my arms down!"), but the views of the ducks can be so good that I don't care. They look just like the stunning black-and-white bird on the 2009-10 Duck Stamp.
The price of the 2009-10 stamp remains $15 -- a bargain. For not only is the stamp the federal license you have to have to hunt migratory waterfowl, but it also does double-duty as your entrance pass for national wildlife refuges where admission is normally charged.
And as I hope all birdwatchers already know, the Duck Stamp is also an effective tool for wetland conservation, perhaps the best one you can find anywhere. I say this because 98 cents of every dollar generated by Duck Stamp sales is used to purchase and lease land for national wildlife refuges and waterfowl conservation areas -- areas of critical importance for birds and other wildlife.
In our August 2008 issue (subscriber access only), we described a little-known but critically important Duck Stamp beneficiary, the Small Wetlands Program, and how it saves not just bird-rich wetland habitat but also priceless habitat for Sprague's Pipit, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Baird's Sparrow, Le Conte's Sparrow, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, and many other hardpressed grassland species. These are species in dire need of assistance the Duck Stamp can provide.
Read more about Duck Stamps.
Please buy a Federal Duck Stamp on Friday (or soon thereafter). You can do so in select post offices across the country, at many sporting goods and outdoor stores, and on the internet. To buy yours at the online USPS Postal Store, roll your mouse over "For Collecting" to produce a pull-down menu. Then choose "Duck Stamps."
And once you have your stamp, why don't you display it where your friends can see it? The best way is with a clear plastic stamp holder. You can get one from the Georgia Ornithologcal Society, Eagle Optics, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (pdf), and CASI/QLT. -- C.H.
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