21 May 2004

Amateur birders assist the pros

Some of the most important knowledge about bird populations and migration routes has its roots in thousands of careful observation by birders. These citizen scientists come from every imaginable profession, and they share a common passion in observing birds. Some take their observations so seriously that they volunteer to assist professional scientists in a wide variety of observing programs.

One such program is conducted in association with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory (BBBO) on the south shore of Lake Ontario not far from Rochester, New York.

The 14 May 2004 issue of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle includes a lengthy article by Corydon Ireland about 35 volunteers who have been capturing and banding migrating song birds at BBBO. The article describes how the volunteers deploy nearly invisible mist nets to capture birds.

After the volunteers separate a captured bird from the net, they measure the length of a wing bone and check for fat deposits and injuries. They also record information about the net and the height at which the bird was captured. The data are sent to the U.S. Geological Survey and various universities.

The right leg of each bird is fitted with an aluminum ring with a unique identifier. Usually only 30 minutes or so pass between capture and release.

For more information about BBBO, see Ireland's article at www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0514MK48HCJ_news.shtml

More information about the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is available at http://birds.cornell.edu/ .

Forrest M. Mims III.