At 6 a.m., Acacia Spencer-Hills is out and about, walking through the forest near Pedder Bay Marina in Metchosin.
SheB次元官网网址檚 among a group of volunteers checking 15 nets every half hour set up in the area to catch birds. With each check, Spencer-Hills never knows what sheB次元官网网址檒l find.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 kind of exciting. Every time you go itB次元官网网址檚 different. Sometimes youB次元官网网址檒l walk up to a net and thereB次元官网网址檚 seven birds in it,B次元官网网址� said the 28-year-old. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like opening a present almost. You get to see a lot of different birds.B次元官网网址�
For the last 26 years, the Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) B次元官网网址� made up of several volunteers from Victoria B次元官网网址� has been capturing and banding birds to track their migrations and learn more about various species.
Two monitoring sites in the Pedder Bay area cover an area of about nine square kilometres. The locations have allowed RPBO to monitor more than 60 different species of birds.
The banders catch approximately 3,000 birds at each station every year. The next few weeks are expected to be the busiest as birds get ready to head south for the winter.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 basically a precursor to any sort of study that you want to do,B次元官网网址� said Spencer-Hills. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 interesting to see the variations in individual birds. YouB次元官网网址檒l get two fox sparrows, but their face will look different or theyB次元官网网址檒l have a different eye colour. ItB次元官网网址檚 pretty fascinating.B次元官网网址�
Once the birds are carefully removed from the net, they are taken to one of the two central banding stations where their age, sex, species, wing length and fat deposits are recorded.
At the banding station, Rebecca Clarke-Coates never knows what sheB次元官网网址檒l find when she reaches into a cloth bag with a bird inside.
B次元官网网址淚 like to guess, based on the size,B次元官网网址� she says, pulling out an orange-crowned warbler. Lying still on its back, Clarke-Coates places a tiny band on the birdB次元官网网址檚 leg and measures the size of its wing.
B次元官网网址淭he warblers are very calm. They donB次元官网网址檛 struggle. ItB次元官网网址檚 nice,B次元官网网址� she says.
The group tries to capture banded birds later to determine how well theyB次元官网网址檙e doing. The data is shared with conservation organizations, students and researchers.
One of the most interesting things for Rick Schortinghuis is learning how long the birds live. On one occasion, a rufous hummingbird was captured eight years after it was banded.
B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 very exciting,B次元官网网址� said Schortinghuis. B次元官网网址淭hey go back and forth to Mexico every winter so it comes back to the same house it was banded at.B次元官网网址�
In order to find out where some birds breed, RPBO conducted a study two years ago with fox sparrows, placing 30 geo locators the size of a nickel in a little backpack over the birdB次元官网网址檚 wings to measure longitude.
The group recaptured 10 of those birds and found they were breeding in western Alaska.
In a regular season, RPBO typically sees three to four species that are rare for the region, such as the grey cheeked thrush found last year B次元官网网址� the first the group has ever recorded. This year the group caught a magnolia warbler that managed to fly over the Rocky Mountains even though they weigh 11 to 12 grams.
B次元官网网址淗aving them in your hand is much more interesting than seeing them in the field. I found that saying B次元官网网址� a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush is completely true,B次元官网网址� said Spencer-Hills. B次元官网网址淵ou see things with them that youB次元官网网址檇 never see perching in a tree.B次元官网网址�
The passerine migration monitoring and banding takes place until Oct. 15. The banding of northern saw-whet owls runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31. Last season, more than 1,110 owls were banded.
RPBO is volunteer run and almost entirely volunteer staffed. Anyone interested in volunteering can email volunteer@rpbo.org.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
