Hi Tweeters and OBOLers!

Jane Westervelt recently asked about who would be interested in reports of
banded Harlequin Ducks. I answered her question directly and thought I
would also take the opportunity to alert you to Harlequin and other banding
projects underway at Simon Fraser University.

HARLEQUIN DUCKS:
For the past several years students/researchers working with Dr. Fred
Cooke at SFU have been banding and color marking Harlequin Ducks in the
Boundary Bay area of BC. They are also collaborating with banders in the
US and interior of Canada. Banded "harlies" have colored leg bands with
number/letter combinations (2 digits per band). Some HARLs have also been
marked with small "nasal disks" (in addition to leg bands) to aid in study
of birds in winter, when they are onshore less. These are small colored
pieces of plastic attached to the nares - they are used in various
color/shape combinations - triangle, circle, square - with one piece on
each side of the bill.

GREBES:
I have spent the past summer banding and color marking RED-NECKED and
HORNED Grebes near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. I have no idea if
these birds will show up here but you never know!! The grebes are marked
with unique combinations of color bands (no numbers). They have a
combination of 1 standard USFWS band with 3 colored bands (2 bands on each
leg). Of course you won't see grebes showing off their legs by standing on
shore! But they do a fair amount of foot waggling and scratching, AND
during preening of their belly they roll to one side and expose one leg.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for someone to see them - but if you
catch sight of color bands on RNGR or HOGR please let me know!! HOGR were
banded with red, yellow, green and blue. RNGR with more obscure colors -
burgundy, orange, white (off-white, really), light blue.

Additionally, a recent study on EARED GREBES involved banding plus
color-marking birds with nasal disks near Williams Lake, BC (something like
the HARLs).

MARBLED MURRELETS:
Many Marbled Murrelets have been banded in the Desolation Sound area of BC.
I think this is just with standard USFWS bands.

SHOREBIRDS:
Researchers have been/are banding WESTERN Sandpipers and DUNLIN around
Boundary Bay, BC. I don't know the details of their operation, but I a
quite certain color banding is involved.

There may be others I don't know about - It's a big group in the "Cooke
Lab" here at SFU!!

If you see any of these species displaying color bands, please let us
know!!!

For GREBES (or anything else if you want, I can pass on the info) contact
myself (bestout at sfu.ca). You can also contact Dr. Fred Cooke (fcooke at sfu.ca).

Thanks for watching out for those bands - keep up the good work, and have fun!

Bonnie Stout
bestout at sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Bonnie Stout
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 Canada
ph:(604)-294-9355
bestout at sfu.ca