CHESTERTOWN, MD — Washington College is kind of actually, for the birds. The faculty is the home of Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory, the one main migratory hen banding station on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
This yr they celebrated an enormous milestone. In its 26-year historical past, the observatory banded its 350,000th hen.
“This tiny little kinglet marks a big occasion for everyone who has worked at the Observatory and banding station over the years,” stated Foreman’s Branch Associate Director Maren Gimpel. “Everyone our staff, students, and volunteers played a part in getting us to this point. As one of the few bird observatories affiliated with a small liberal arts college, we are able to contribute critical data to the North American bird banding database while exposing our undergrads to avian monitoring methodologies and current research, providing them with a unique opportunity to explore their passions in ornithology.”
Pamela Cowart-Rickman
In 2023 employees at Foreman’s Branch caught, recognized, banded, and launched over 13,000 birds representing greater than 125 species together with herons, owls, ospreys, hawks, orioles, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, blackbirds, wrens, mockingbirds, bluebirds, and robins.
All the banded birds are logged here.
Pamela Cowart-Rickman
The crew bands the birds with numbered aluminum bangs to allow them to monitor tendencies, decide how they journey, and observe the productiveness of native breeding birds.
The knowledge can be used to trace timing of migration of songbirds transferring by way of the Eastern Shore and is reported to the North American Bird Banding Program.
Some of their birds have been tracked as far North as Newfoundland and as far South as Ecuador.
Pamela Cowart-Rickman
The Bird Observatory, in Chestertown, is nestled in a waterfront refuge on Washington College’s River and Field Campus. The land serves as an necessary stopover habitat for shorebirds and is home to hundreds of migrating and wintering geese and geese every year.
Washington College is planning to put in a brand new banding station out on Foreman’s Branch, providing college students extra alternatives to additional their research by way of paid internships and volunteer alternatives.
