So when a handsome pair of male blue-winged teals turned up May 10 just offshore from our property on Six Mile Lake, it was a surprise to see one had a type of orange tag on its bill.

At first, I thought it was some sort of bill discoloration, perhaps even an injury. But the duck was cooperative enough to get several clear photos that showed not only the marker but even some faded numbers.

Which set in motion a hunt to determine who had put such a tag on this duck.

I first turned to Ryan Brady, Natural Heritage Conservation Program biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, to see if he could point me in the right direction. He suggested submitting the report and photos to the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory, https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory. The site has a link to www.reportband.gov.

Betsy Bloom/Daily News photos

The site asks a number of questions about where, when and how the bird was found, along with whether it remains in the wild. Photos can be filed there as well.

Brady also recommended I send the photos to a Wisconsin DNR waterfowl colleague, Taylor Finger, who called the photos “awesome.” He did some inquiries but was not able to determine who might be marking blue-winged teals in this manner for study.

A variety of identification markers are used for monitoring birds. While leg bands are perhaps the most well-known, there are neck collars — trumpeter swans and Canada geese can sometimes have these — along with flat wing tags, tail streamers, transmitters and identification dyes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which has a page on bird markers at https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory/science/about-auxiliary-markers.

The Bird Banding Laboratory called this pill-shaped plastic tag on the teal’s bill a “nasal saddle.” It is secured over the bill with a rod or fastener passed through the nostrils, or nares.

Nasal saddles often have codes on them, according to the Bird Banding Laboratory site. While easier to spot than a leg band or neck collar, the site states “these markers are not as highly coordinated as goose collars, and only allow individual identification within the study area.”

Nasal saddles often have codes on them, according to the Bird Banding Laboratory site.

The site advised it can take some time to track down information on individual markers and those reporting should be patient.

So I was surprised when I got a response June 13 from Suzanne Peurach of the Bird Banding Lab — but more surprised by what she told me: this teal was not tagged in the United States.

The most likely match: Martinique, a Caribbean island just north of the coast of South America that is part of the Lesser Antilles.

According to Google, the island is farther south than Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the British Virgin Islands — and 2,670 miles from Felch Township.

Not surprisingly a popular tourist destination, Martinique is known for, among other things, its historical sites — it has long been a territory of France — and rum production.

The island is about 50 miles long and only 22 miles across at its widest point, but does have sizeable areas of tropical forest, according to online sites.

Which is why it might have appealed to the blue-winged teal as a wintering destination.

Blue-winged teal are known for migrating farther than most waterfowl, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website, https://www.allaboutbirds.org. They’ll breed as far north as Canada and Alaska, then winter as far south as Central and northern South America.

“One individual banded in Alberta was shot in Venezuela a month later,” the site states, adding the oldest known blue-winged teal was a male banded in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was at least 23 years and 3 months old when found shot in Cuba in 2005.

They also start back north later in the spring — which would fit with seeing this male in mid-May — and are among the first waterfowl to depart in the fall, according to All About Birds.

Blue-winged teal are the second-most abundant duck in North America, behind only the mallard, and one of the smallest ducks. While they do nest in Michigan and Wisconsin, they more favor the waterfowl-rich prairie pothole region, according to All About Birds.

These two males did not stick around, and I never noticed a female. It’s likely their journey didn’t end in Michigan, so the distance covered probably grew. I got lucky in being able to photograph one this unique in the short time it spent on Six Mile Lake. Hopefully it will assist someone in their research.

Peurach of the Bird Banding Lab did forward the tagged teal report to a contact they had for the banding program in Martinique, adding, “Hopefully he will be able to provide some information about this bird soon.”

If that information comes, I’ll share it in a future column.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.