For the three summer TERM employment opportunities I had with the USFWS, I participated in the four-square-mile breeding waterfowl survey (FSM). These are incredibly fun surveys to do, and I hope to be able to do more of them in the future. I got to canoe down a water basin with a partner and identify wetland birds and waterfowl as we paddled down a lazy stream. I even got to do it from an air boat at the Arrowwood NWR one time. That was a difficult one as the birds were scared up by the boat and started circling the body of water.
I also was able to participate in some rocket netting in North Dakota on a wildlife preserve. It was quite fun, and we didn’t decapitate too many individuals. Many of the birds got banded, but a lot just had to be tallied and let go.
![survey](http://ericjohnhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_4387-e1456585364183-200x300.jpg)
The FSM survey entails recording pairs of breeding pairs of waterfowl or wetland birds and whether or not they are hatch year, or after hatch year (determined by plumage) in a four square mile area. See some images below on what a typical wetland looks like in North Dakota and South Dakota.
![A wetland with a lot of horsetails](http://ericjohnhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/wetland-300x225.jpg)
![ducks](http://ericjohnhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ducks-300x200.jpg)
![Hatch year Pintail and Ruddy duck](http://ericjohnhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ducks1-300x200.jpg)
![Several waterfowl on a wetland in the prairie pothole region](http://ericjohnhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ducks2-300x200.jpg)