Waterfowl and Wetlands at ESF

05/04/2026

A good interview w prior Waterfowl and Wetlands @ ESF grad student, Jake Chronister. Check it out to see the great work our graduates are doing for the ducks! Links below in comments.

04/20/2026

Proud of Dominic Hockenbury for coming up with this Game-farm Mallard Hybrid Classifier Ap. Try it out next season, you do have to measure the tarsus, bill width and wing chord as well as enter the s*x of the bird, but it spits out likelihood that a bird is greater or less than 70% wild mallard. This is kinda the threshold where mallards make it on the landscape and don't have deleterious traits and die or don't reproduce.

mallardhybridclassifier.com

03/22/2026

Wonderful explanation about how hunters and birders came together to save birds! Links see

03/21/2026

Wow! What amazing students at ESF. A field trip on a Saturday morning to the Montezuma Wetlands Complex and look at the turn out!!! Two bus full!!!

Pictures from Guy Baldassarre Memorial Marsh....and we found a Eurasian Wigeon along w all the feathered friends, mallard, black duck, American wigeon, gadwall, green-winged teal, gadwall, shoveler, ring-necked duck, bufflehead, common goldeneye, common merganser, Canada goose, Trumpeter swan, tundra swan, sandhill crane, and so on.

03/14/2026

ESF crew at NY Ducks Unlimited State Convention giving an interactive workshop. Dominic Hockenbury on game farm mallards, Izzy Eagen on how to ID Ducks by wings and how HIP works, and Emily Miller on What do Ducks Eat?

03/09/2026

Time to support the Ducks and the students that are the next generation of Waterfowl & Wetlands scientists, conservationists, and managers that make it all happen for the hunt and for the ducks! Get your ESF DU event tickets today!

https://ducksunlimited.myeventscenter.com/event/Suny-Esf-Evening-Of-Conservation-118459?_gl=1*14vzuv1*_gcl_au*MTY2MTM3NjczLjE3NzE2MTA4Mzk.*_ga*MTIxMzMwNTIyLjE3NzE2MTA4NDE.*_ga_2X0ECQZQ09*czE3NzMwNzM2OTQkbzQkZzEkdDE3NzMwNzM3MDQkajUwJGwwJGgw

02/26/2026

Congratulations to PhD student Dominic Hockenbury for being awarded a Ducks Unlimited Fellowship for his work on how game-farm mallard releases have affected the genetics, behavior, and sensory abilities of wild mallard populations across North America.

Dom also was awarded the Elon H. Eaton Award by the Eaton Birding Society for the same work in the central NY region where famed Ornithologist Elon Eaton conducted much of his work during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Great work Dominic!

The Waterfowl Research Foundation Fellowships are open to graduate students enrolled at any North American university.

12/28/2025

Congratulations to Bryce Hopper for completing a Master of Professional Studies degree w/ Waterfowl and Wetlands at ESF.

Bryce completed professional experience w/USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service by monitoring Wetland Conservation Easement properties throughout several counties in central NY.

As a contractor, Bryce helped meet monitoring needs not possible by federal employees alone. In that time Bryce gained valuable experience towards employment with USDA-NRCS.

When (or if) jobs again become available to sustain USDA-NRCS programs, Bryce is well positioned to effectively and efficiently complete necessary tasks.

Congrats Bryce on a great job done!

11/10/2025

Lab practical today in our ESF Waterfowl Ecology and Management course, we used teaching specimens that are part of the Roosevelt Wild Life Collection.

11/09/2025

Great morning w students at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Guys Marsh at Northern Montezuma WMA