Jeff’s off chasing summer vacation, so Carson Odegard grabs a mic with CWA egg-salvage guru Jason Coslovich - Egg Salvage Program Coordinator, Waterfowl Biologist and Robert “Rob” Jones—the volunteer dynamo keeping the North Delta Duck Hatchery clucking along since the early 2000s. Pull a chair up to the brooder and hear how a ramshackle 1996 shed on Tyler Island now kicks out 500 wild mallards a year, why 92 percent of rescued eggs actually hatch, and what it takes to relocate the whole outfit before next spring’s first quack.

Talking points

• Eggs to wings: the combine-to-incubator relay that turns field-found clutches into fly-ready ducks—and the ten-by-ten room that makes it happen.
• Volunteer grind: daily pen scrubs, smartweed jungles, and the slick system that’s banded ...