I was waiting at the marsh at the east end of Van Dyne Spoor Rd. (Montezuma area) for possible short-eared owls late this afternoon. Sporadically, there were MALLARDS flying hither and yon in small groups. If I had had to estimate their numbers in the whole marsh, I would have guessed a couple hundred. At 1615, a helicopter flew by to the north of the road and I watched it. Turning around, I was amazed to find the sky south of the road literally full of ducks. Several thousand had been disturbed and were milling around. Within a minute of the chopper's exit, all had resettled. My idea is to run a helicopter by a given marsh, then take a picture using a wide-angle lens, print it out, enlarge it, and then count the dots. Maybe dynamite would also get them all up.Don't thank me, just send me money. P.S. no owls seen, although 2 HARRIERS and 2 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS were actively hunting the marsh. Steve FastBrooktondale
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