Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Banding BC
Date: Apr 2 19:27:01 2009
From: Joel Brady-Power - fvnerka at hotmail.com



Hi Tweets,

This last weekend I had a chance to attend the Vancouver Avian Research Centre's bird banding and monitoring workshop in Burnaby. The workshop was led by Derek Matthews and Carol Chistopherson with help from Mike Boyd and Devin (can't remeber his last name), and it was fantastic. I highly reccomend this course to anyone who is interested in learning the intricacies of a bird's life. Ever since I started birding about three years ago I have been fascinated by birds, but to be honest outside of modest identification skills, I knew very little about them. I learned more in this three day course than I've learned in my first three years of birding.

If you're like me and you always intend to read the front of your bird guide, to learn the feather groups and molt patterns, but somehow always skim over and end up poring over the brightly colored plates of the next possible rarity around the corner, then this class is for you. Derek is an excellent teacher, not only is he incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about birds, but he is fun and engaging. He has a way of bringing people out, capturing their curiosity, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

In this class we learned the complexities of feather molt, the topography of birds, the time line of a bird's life, how to band birds, and why we band birds. How many people know what a molt limit is? You'll never forget after this class. Trust me. We learned how to properly age birds in the hand by studying slides of specimen wings and tails, and later the actual specimens with the aid of Mag-eyes. Derek also taught us how to sex birds in dimorphic species, although for many species biometric measurements or the presence of either cloacal protuberance or brood patches would be needed. ( If I am not making any sense you've got to take this course!)

After learning the basics in the classroom we took our theory out into the field to practice. Everyone got a chance to band a bird. We learned the proper way to hold wild birds using the banders grip. We learned how to attach the bands, take wing chord, tail length measurements, and weight. Then we would study the molt patterns on a live bird to apply what we had learned in the classoom to properly age and sex the birds. If you have never had a bird in hand I cannot fully articulate the wonder I felt feeling my Spotted Towhee's rapid heart beat and looking into that blood red eye. For me it was a transformational experience, one I will not soon forget and something I want to be a part of for a long time.

The third day we went to Colony Farm, which birders, if you haven't ever checked it out you might want to plan a trip across the border. Just this last week one of the banders who does daily surveys to monitor the birds there had all three species of accipter in one day! Right now the Mountain Bluebirds have just shown up and I know this place plays host to Yellow-breasted Chat in the spring and I imagine many migrating warblers. Also due to the low lying vegetation everything you see is pretty much at eye level.

On this day we did more banding and also learned how to extract birds from the mist nets. All through the course Derek, Devin, Mike and Carol were extremely helpful, watching over us as we worked, but not doing things for us. They gave very clear instructions and were very patient as we struggled to untangle our birds from the nets. After our second day in the field we returned to the classroom for a final test to see if we had remembered anything. The way that they layered the information on us I was amazed at how well we all retained nearly everything from the weekend.

The class ended with a recap of what we had learned, and the importance of conservation through increased awareness and education. Many of the birds we all love are in decline all over the globe, and the importance of educating people about what they can do to help is vitally impotant to their well being. Derek and his staff did a fantastic job of converying this and both illustrating the importance of getting involved and showing us ways that we could. At the completion of the course we all receieved a certificate that gives us the oppurtunity to volunteer anywhere banders are needed.

If you have ever been interested in banding or you would just like to learn more about birds, I cannot recommend this course highly enough. I would take it again in a heartbeat, and if I wasn't heading to Alaska in a week for the summer you better believe I would be volunteering at Colony Farm this summer! I will be volunteering at Colony Farm this Sunday to gain more experience, and I highly encourage people to check out VARC's website and at very least come up and check out the process. Their doors are always open to the public and although you cannot band unless you have taken the course you can see what it's all about. My suspicion is that once you see the birds up close you'll want to get involved yourself and I would say, "Go for it!"

link to VARC's website http://www.birdvancouver.com/

Joel Brady-Power
fvnerka at hotmail.com
Anacortes, Wa 98221


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