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| Spring
Bird Banding at Prince Edward Point, Ontario |
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| The bander has an assistant called a scribe
who records all of the data that he describes from the examination
of each bird. He first bands them with a special size band for each
type of bird. Some bird species, like the Blue Jay, may need two different
size bands, so he checks their leg size with a special measuring tool,
called a Leg Gauge, then fits a band that will move freely between
the bird's knee and ankle. |
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| Nashville Warbler |
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| Next, he checks the bird's fatness by blowing the
breast feathers aside to see the color of the skin below the throat. The
yellow colouration of the fat is greatly contrasted against the dark purple
colour of the breast muscle. The amount of the cavity that is filled with
fat is graded with a 0, 1, 2 or 3 with 3 being full of fat. |
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| This tells Brian how long they've been there
feeding. The "no" fat birds are the ones that have just
arrived from their long migratory journey or could be residential
birds. The higher fat birds are the ones that have been fueling up
for a few days and are about ready to continue their journey north. |
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| He then tilts the bird to the side again, and nudges
the right wing out slightly to measure it. In a few bird species, such as
with the white-throated sparrow, he may be able to determine their sex by
the length of their wing. |
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| He fans out the wing, checking the shape of
the tips of the wings and the coloring, which can tell him the age
of the bird. While still holding it
with the left hand, he slides the legs between his index and middle
finger, then uses his thumb to press the feet up to his two fingers
to lock the legs and feet in place. |
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
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| He then props the bird up to have a good look
at his whole body from an upright position. Now
he can look for special markings, the overall health of the bird
and to just splendor in its beauty. This is also a great time to
give his audience a better look at each bird. |
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| American Gold Finch |
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| A bird named Fred is a good example of just
how gentle and efficient the banders and their process are.
He is a Brown-headed Cowbird and has been trapped
and brought in for banding about 50 to 60 times over the last 6
years. He was first banded by the PEPtBO in 1996. Brian has gotten
to know Fred very well over the years. Once a day they will measure
him and weigh him but any more than once a day and they just let
him back out the door. |
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| Fred, the bird band-it |
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| To Fred, the free seeds in the
ground trap seem to be well worth the ordeal of being
handled by the banders. Fred is not the only one. There
is another Cowbird named Ethel who lives for the spring
banding, free seed cycle. Now for the strange part!
The bird is in a position at this point to be weighed.
He gently places the bird, head first into a "can"
(a pill bottle of varying sizes, weighted to 10 grams). |
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| The canning of the bird allows
the assistant to weigh the bird while his wings are held by
his side, firm enough that he can't flutter and hurt himself
or get away. Weighing a wild bird would be an incredible task
without this ingenious method (I dare you to think of any other
way to weigh a bird!). However ingenious, though, it looks very
odd. |
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| Spring Bird Banding Continued / Page #3 |
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