Sharp-shinned hawk launched at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth
A pointy-shinned hawk, which was banded earlier within the day, is launched Sept. 25, 2022, by a employees member at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota.
Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
For many, October brings vivid foliage, cooler temps and the return of pumpkin spice lattes. But for chicken lovers, October begins fall migration when species go away North America and head south for the winter.
In the smooth luster of pre-dawn, a staff of biologists and citizen scientists arrange a collection of nets on the south finish of Jekyll Island. All 17 are a bit of like extra-large volleyball nets however designed to soundly ensnare birds in a spread of sizes. They are placed in the identical places annually, and since 1978, volunteers have caught, evaluated, banded and launched upwards of 1,000 birds from them each October.
A couple of days earlier than Halloween, knowledge collectors on the Jekyll Island Banding Station (JIBS) observe a gentle, but predictable, decline of birds within the nets, signaling the top of migration. Most birds at the moment are nicely on their method to Central and South America.
Heather Pitman, a biologist and environmental scientist from Norcross, Georgia, is amongst main volunteer employees at JIBS, and since 2011, Pitman and her husband Evan have been coordinating and main knowledge assortment efforts on the station.
Pitman started banding birds in 2007 at Panola Mountain in Stockbridge, Georgia, the place she bought hands-on coaching extracting them from nets. Then, she targeted on studying particular nuances of every species to find out intercourse, age and physique fats index. Beak and eye coloration plus feather development patterns are just a few physiological features that banders think about when figuring out necessary items of organic knowledge for every chicken.
Over the years, the Pitmans have noticed distinct patterns and modifications at JIBS. Typically, the station data a excessive variety of hatch-year birds, and Heather Pitman has an concept as to why that’s.
“Statistically, there are just more hatch-years,” mentioned Pitman. “Most don’t survive past their first year. Plus, in terms of migration, adult birds tend to migrate sooner. They leave earlier, possibly before we are set up at the station, and the hatch-years are left behind to figure it out. It could be that since it’s their first time, the hatch-years are more likely to follow the coastline during migration. Because they’ve never done it, hatch-years may not want to stray so far over the ocean and end up in our nets.”
Pitman additionally famous that the 2023 banding season marked probably the most birds ever recorded at JIBS—1,750 people representing 57 completely different species. And she has just a few concepts as to why this can be the case, as nicely.
“Perhaps it means the habitat is more useful to the birds,” thought of Pitman. “This area is now closed to the public during the rest of the year, so having undisturbed habitat means there’s more cover and vegetation, like native partridge pea, and that attracts more bugs and birds. If there are more migrating birds attracted to this habitat, then that increases the chances of them getting caught and recorded in our nets.”
Winds, warehouse improvement could have an effect on migratory chicken habitat, pathways
But there may very well be one other risk why so many extra birds are drawn to the Jekyll Island habitat this season.
In recent years, tens of hundreds of forested land and uncultivated habitat have been cleared for warehouse building and port improvement in Coastal Georgia. Much of these cleared acres just isn’t solely prime migratory chicken breeding habitat, but in addition necessary cease over and refueling factors alongside the East Coast flyway. That so many extra birds have been banded and recorded within the nets at Jekyll Island may very well be due, partially, to lack of necessary habitat inside migration routes.
Dr. Nick Bayly, an ornithologist and analysis scientist with Colombia-based conservation organization, SELVA, is cautious in relation to deciphering modifications at banding stations. Bayly signifies that climate patterns usually play a major position in how chicken migration shifts from one season to the following. Bayly additionally directs a banding station in a distant desert neighborhood in northeastern Colombia.
“At our Guajira station we had just 450 migrants this year, while in previous years that total has been 1,600,” emphasised Bayly. “Normally winds circulate around the Gulf from southwest to northeast and push birds more towards Florida and the Atlantic coast. This year, however, there were extended periods of north-easterly and easterly winds over the Gulf, blowing birds from the Atlantic coast further west than they might normally have migrated.”
While wind patterns could account for decreased birds at Colombia’s Guajira station, wind patterns don’t absolutely clarify why JIBS banded a report 13 yellow-billed cuckoos, a species that sometimes doesn’t fly over the Atlantic Ocean throughout migration and subsequently wouldn’t have been pushed westward over land.
According to Pitman, in years previous, JIBS has captured two to a few, and in some years, zero yellow-billed cuckoos, which is why vital, recent habitat loss throughout the Southeast may partially clarify the rise of birds, specifically yellow-billed cuckoos, banded at Jekyll Island this yr.
Bayly went on to emphasise that sustained, long-term knowledge assortment is essential in understanding the well being and standing of chicken species, particularly that of the elusive and never well-studied in North America, yellow-billed cuckoo, now in steep decline throughout all of its North American breeding vary.
“The value of these stations is heightened when we combine data across multiple stations, which smooths out some of the interannual variation. Under such a scenario, we can get at interesting questions such as how productivity varies from year to year. This is especially important for high boreal breeding species that are poorly monitored by existing North American surveys.”
Volunteerism the entire household can do collectively
The Jekyll Island banding station isn’t only for biologists and analysis scientists. In truth, the station is open to volunteers and observers eager to be taught extra about birds, which is precisely how Jacksonville resident Monica Ratliff and her two kids bought concerned.
“I put up a birdfeeder in May, and the kids began watching and asking questions,” defined Ratliff. “So, we started with a Florida bird book and binoculars, and then we started learning and identifying birds.”
Ratliff, who homeschools her daughter, Myra, age 7, and son, Ryan, age 10, went to work finding as many assets as she may to assist their burgeoning curiosity. She discovered books on the library and sought out native locations to birdwatch. The household even constructed a bluebird nest field from which 4 young birds fledged this summer season.
But when she stumbled throughout JIBS on-line, Ratliff knew she discovered one thing particular to spice up her kids’s studying. The station was solely an hour and twenty minutes from their home and appeared like a superb studying alternative for all of them. The trio visited the station day by day in its final week of operation this October.
“Everyone was so amazing with the kids, especially Evan,” mentioned Ratliff. “He shared so much information about how to further identify birds by their feathers and how to tell the hatch-year birds of different species. Both kids got to hold different ones and set the birds free. It just warms our heart that everyone does this as a volunteer. I told my home-schooling group all about JIBS, and we will definitely be back next year.”
To become involved and be taught extra about a number of the species banded this October on the Jekyll Island Banding Station, georgiabirdobservatory.org/our-projects.
