Matthew Roberts is a cover guy.
The 30-year-old Fremont man is featured on the cover of thenewest edition of Habitat! magazine set to come out in January2012. He’s also made an appearance in a Kiwanis newsletter andlooks forward to seeing his photograph in the Tribune.
Roberts was photographed for the magazine while taking part in aduck banding endeavor last January at the Bosque del ApacheNational Wildlife Refuge in San Antonio, N.M. there, wildlifebiologists and 25 volunteers worked to put bands on more than 180ducks and to check 60 previously banded fowl. Biologists alsoswabbed the throats of ducks to check for aviary flu or anyillnesses in the duck groupings. the ducks included pintails, woodducks and mallards.
Roberts went to the refuge with his parents, Kevin and Joyce,while visiting his aunt, Joanie McMains. Joyce’s sister volunteersat the refuge.
To catch the ducks, biologists put bait on a marsh at the refugeand then wait. When the ducks come, they propel a net over theducks. the biologists and volunteers then have only a short time toget the ducks out from under the net, which holds them down, sothat the fowl don’t drown, Joyce Roberts said.
Just nine of the hundreds of ducks didn’t survive. Those ducksthen are used as specimens for biology and zoology classes and fordisplays in science units, she said.
Once caught, the ducks are divided by gender and placed incoops.
Matt Roberts got to help put the ducks into cages, then takethem out and help hold them so biologists and students couldmeasure them and determine their age. He learned to tuck the ducks’heads under their wings, which is less stressful for the bird.
Joyce took notes for two biologists from the fish and gamedepartment who were taking the swab samples. Kevin also helped holdducks while they were being measured.
If a bird wasn’t banded, a biologist would put a numbered bandon its leg. for ducks with bands, the biologists measured the birdand put findings in a computer. doing so helps scientists tellwhere the birds have been and how much they’ve grown.
The entire process took awhile.
“We had to go at 6 a.m. and wait for them (the ducks) to comein,” Joyce said.
Enough ducks had gathered by 10 a.m. for the net to be propelledover the area. Biologists and volunteers worked until
Matt said he didn’t get tired, however.
“I liked it,” he said.
During the duck banding process, photographer Joe Zinn shotphotos of Matt Roberts working with Ashley Inslee, refugebiologist. Their photograph, along with others, is featured on the”Habitat!” cover.
Refuge biologist John Bradenburg also gave Matt a brown jacketwith a patch that reads: “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
Matt, who has Down Syndrome, is the first person withdevelopmental disabilities to help with the duck banding process,Joyce said.
Back in Fremont, Matt stays busy at the ITC workshop at ENCOR inFremont. He is also involved in the Aktion Club, supported throughthe Kiwanis organization.
Matt was wearing his Aktion Club shirt while at the Albuquerqueairport with his parents. A Kiwanis Club member from Minnesota, whowas there, asked the Roberts if Matt liked that club.
He loves doing the club’s community service projects, his momsaid.
The Roberts told Jim Holtam, who help organize the local AktionClub chapter, about their airport encounter. Matt – decked out inhis Aktion sweatshirt – then had his photo taken with Holtam forthe Kiwanis newsletter with information about Matt’s club promotionat the airport. That newsletter came out last spring.
Joyce Roberts said Sandhill cranes that go through Nebraskawinter at the Bosque del Apache refuge.
“They had over 15,000 when we were there,” she said.
Data from the refuge website states that tens of thousands ofbirds, including the cranes, Arctic geese and many types of ducksgather here each autumn and stay through the winter. Managed by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge consists of more than57,000 acres situated along the Rio Grande River near Socorro, N.M.Bosque del Apache is Spanish for “woods of the Apache.”
“Habitat!” magazine is published by the Friends of the Bosquedel Apache NWR Inc.
So what does Matt want to do now that he’s made the magazine’scover?
“I want to be a Hollywood star,” he said, grinning.
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