Introduction Highlights

Waterfowl and man has been connected for thousands of years. And how do we maintain this connection with waterfowl currently? Tragedies of over hunting and near extinction for many waterfowl species occurred during the 20th century. Hunters recognized with continued intensive hunting, many waterfowl would be depleted and therefore the sport they love, the animals they love would disappear. So they decided they had to put their foot down and learn how to manage these waterfowl populations sustainability.

Waterfowl and wetlands 
Waterfowl refuges were created, the duck stamp was indited, and the hunters awareness of the populations numbers increased. Duck Stamp created revenue for these refuges in order to protect not only waterfowl, but many other species. Through hunting taxes, many ecosystems have been able to be preserved. However, now that the waterfowl populations are increasing, the hunters who provide currency to protect them are decreasing. How will we protect our species when there is no longer money coming in? By chance charging extra taxes on binoculars, entrance to parks and memorials will help pick up the lack of income from the declining hunter population. Hopefully it is sufficient enough to protect our ecosystems.

Janet Kear wrote a book entitled Man and Wildfowl. However, it was too expensive for me to purchase, but I found a book called Wildfowl and the text was written by Janet Kear. In this book, she had a chapter called Wildfowl and People.
Geese have been domesticated as early as 5000 years ago, beginning with the Greylag Goose (Anser anser) and shortly following the Mallard, Swan Goose, and Muscovy Duck. Their domestication was associated with utilitarian purposes: pets, food, and feathers. A hypothesis about the beginning times of agricultural conflicts with geese begins with the Greylag Goose (grainivores and therefore potentially had conflict with raiding croplands) which is interesting since it is one of the first domesticated geese, per chance due to the conflict. Also, an interesting fact is the difference between white and dark domestic ducks. White forms of waterfowl are typically weaker and picked off in the wild; however, the white geese grow quicker. Dark forms typically take longer to grow, however, they lay eggs for longer periods of time. Therefore, upon domestication, white geese are used for meat and dark forms are used for eggs.
In the current day, humans and wildfowl are getting closer, causing disturbances on both parts. Pink-footed Geese consume carrots in Iceland, Magpie Geese consume rice but humans, too, have an impact on the animals (you can see some of these man-made conflicts in the Population Dynamic section).