Bird Banding
The Idea
The primary goal of this Education Program is to provide families living within the Upper Clark Fork River Basin a Bird’s-Eye View of the effects of past mining activities and of current restoration and remediation projects aimed at repairing mining related damages. This program is unique because it takes place during the summer months and targets both children and adults that live within the basin. Through this program, participants are invited to observe birds up close at our banding stations, learn about Montana’s riparian birds and how to identify them, and interact directly with biologists collecting scientific data on bird communities – thus it represents an opportunity for citizens to make their own observations, form conclusions, and take part in the process of science.
We were awarded two grants to begin our Bird’s-Eye View Education Program. In 2006, with help from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, we piloted a new banding station at Beavertail Hill State Park that was open to the public. The State of Montana’s Natural Resource Damage Program then awarded the ASC an additional grant to develop educational materials for the 2006 pilot program and to expand our program during the spring and summer of 2007.
The Results
Our Bird’s-Eye View Program was in full swing this past summer, with 3 banding stations: Rock Creek, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, and the Clark Fork Coalition's Dry Creek Ranch near Galen, MT. These were all run as part of the MAPS program in coordination with the Institute for Bird Populations, where all our data have been forwarded.
Kids love our BEVEP program -- can you tell?
During these 5 visits, we captured 122 birds representing 24 different species. The five most common species were Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, and Song Sparrow, respectively. Many of the birds captured at this site are relatively dependent upon riparian habitats. These include the Red-naped Sapsucker, Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Gray Catbird, and Song Sparrow. We also captured a number of species common to coniferous forests (e.g. Western Tanager and Hammond’s Flycatcher), probably because of the conifer forest adjacent to the riparian area or because there is a smattering of ponderosa pine trees present within the cottonwood dominated riparian vegetation.
Perhaps our most exciting capture of the season was a male Pileated Woodpecker – what a gorgeous bird! Other highlights of the season included a capturing a relatively large number of Calliope Hummingbirds, brilliant male Audubon Warblers, and examining the poka-dots on Red-naped Sapsucker’s wings!
The average number of captures per banding outing was 24 individuals, and our most productive banding date was on June 11, with 41 captures. We also “captured” 37 human visitors at our banding station – we especially enjoyed our young visitors from the Montana Natural History Center’s Summer camp and a group of teachers from the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program’s Summer Science Academy.
Annual Reports for this project
Click here for completed reports.
Funders
Montana DOJ Natural Resource Damage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks.
Cooperators
Plum Creek Timber Company donated the banding equipment required to operate this station. We’d like to recognize the efforts of our dedicated technicians who volunteered until we received the funding for this program and then served as technicians: Sara Ashline, Maureen Essen, Leigh Greenwood, Ty Smucker, and Fernando Villasenor.
Contact
Kristina Smucker(email link)
