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Jury finds soldier guilty in death of Allentown girlfriend’s mother

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<p>HOLLENBACK TOWNSHIP &#8212; After a brief walk through the woods, Molly Giles waded into the edge of Maple Swamp and found quite a catch.</p><p>In a funnel trap set in shallow water seven wood ducks splashed inside as Giles approached.</p><p>&#8220;Looks like a good catch,&#8221; Giles said as she slowly approached the trap.</p><p>Across the state the Pennsylvania Game Commission is trapping and banding ducks in a yearly project that aids in monitoring waterfowl populations and setting hunting season dates and bag limits for next year. Giles, who is a wildlife biologist with the PGC, has traps set at four sites in the area, one each in Hollenback and Rice townships and two in Huntington Mills. The funnel traps she uses are actually a large, mesh cage with an opening that allows ducks to enter but not exit. Shelled corn is scattered in and around the trap to entice any ducks in the area. The traps are checked daily in the morning and evening.</p><p>The work begins on Aug. 1 and concludes before the youth waterfowl day opens on Sept. 19. The PGC has set catch quotas for two species - wood ducks (750 statewide, half male and half female) and black ducks (100 statewide, half male and half female). There&#8217;s no quota on other duck species but they&#8217;re banded and recorded as well.</p><p>As of Friday morning, Giles trapped and banded 94 wood ducks at her four locations.</p><p>&#8220;I hope to get some teal later in the season and I haven&#8217;t seen any mallards yet, but that&#8217;s just a factor of the habitat at the trapping sites,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The submerged timber makes for great wood duck habitat.&#8221;</p><p>With the help of intern Brianna Smith, Giles used a net to remove each duck from the trap. The ducks were aged by looking at the color bands on the wing feathers and the tail, sexed according to their plumage and a band was placed on the leg before the ducks were released. Of the seven wood ducks in the trap at Maple Swamp, three were males and four were females.</p><p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re looking for survival rates of birds, age and sex data really helps,&#8221; Giles said.</p><p>The preseason banding work is just one of several facets used to obtain data that determines the waterfowl season for the following year. In the spring, biologists conduct breeding surveys where they count pairs, broods and lone males.</p><p>The hunting season contributes data via reports of banded birds harvested, and in the winter a Wing Bee is conducted in flyways across the country where biologists examine wings sent in by hunters to determine age and sex of waterfowl in the harvest.</p><p>All the data is used in the Adaptive Harvest Management system and dates and bag limits are established for waterfowl season the following year.</p><p>&#8220;We need the hunting season to help tell us what we&#8217;re going to do next year,&#8221; Giles said. &#8220;And the Wing Bee helps us determine if there are more males in the harvest than females, and more juveniles than adults.&#8221;</p><p>Giles&#8217; personal high during the preseason banding is more than 200 ducks and she&#8217;s hoping to approach that this year. She does, on occasion, catch ducks that have already been banded either at the same site or elsewhere in prior years.</p><p>Timing is important during the preseason banding as birds need to be caught before they migrate for the winter and bands need to be placed before hunting season so hunters can report them.</p><p>&#8220;We want to put a lot more bands out in the northeast,&#8221; Giles said. &#8220;This is a good way to gauge survival and movement.&#8221;</p><p>After about 10 minutes Giles knelt at the water&#8217;s edge and let the seventh and final wood duck coast out on the water before she packed up to move to the next trapping site.</p><p>&#8220;Collecting data on ducks is almost a year round deal and it all has its benefits,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I do enjoy the preseason banding because it is hands-on and it&#8217;s interesting to see new species come in as migration starts.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Biologist Molly Giles releases a banded wood duck onto Maple Swamp last week. The duck was trapped and banded as part of a project to obtain age, sex and survival data. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_duck1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Biologist Molly Giles releases a banded wood duck onto Maple Swamp last week. The duck was trapped and banded as part of a project to obtain age, sex and survival data. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tom Venesky | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_duck3-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Biologist Molly Giles (right) explains to Pennsylvania Game Commission intern Brianna Smith how to identify a wood duck&#8217;s age based on its tail feathers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_duck3-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Biologist Molly Giles (right) explains to Pennsylvania Game Commission intern Brianna Smith how to identify a wood duck&#8217;s age based on its tail feathers. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tom Venesky | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Fact-box-template-4.pdf">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Fact-box-template-4.pdf</photo2><caption2></caption2><photoCredit2>Tom Venesky | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_duck2-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Brianna Smith holds a wood duck while biologist Molly Giles places a band on its leg as part of the Pennsylvania Game Commission&#8217;s preseason duck banding program. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_duck2-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Brianna Smith holds a wood duck while biologist Molly Giles places a band on its leg as part of the Pennsylvania Game Commission&#8217;s preseason duck banding program. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tom Venesky | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>PGC&#8217;s annual program provides useful waterfowl data</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of the duck banding work and Molly Giles explaining the process, visit the online version of this story at timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Local duck banding work by the PGC off to a good start