Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Louisiana
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Gallinule harvest in Louisiana represents 85% and 60% of the total harvest of both Purple and Common Gallinules within the Mississippi Flyway and nationally, respectively. However, for both Purple and Common Gallinules, there are no available data for either species at any scale (state, flyway, or nationally) on which informed management actions can be made. The focus of our proposed work is to gather preliminary data on distribution and origin of harvested gallinules to provide data supporting an appropriate, data-driven management framework for Purple and Common Gallinule in the Mississippi Flyway. Specifically, our research will focus on gathering the first US data on distribution and origins of harvested gallinules and focus on first steps toward development of a management framework which addresses the situation of a migratory game bird on which no population demographic information is known.