{"id":87206,"date":"2023-08-08T16:56:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&p=87206"},"modified":"2023-08-08T16:56:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:56:32","slug":"birds-of-a-feather-an-annual-summertime-bird-banding-project-reunites-a-group-of-scientists","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/birds-of-a-feather-an-annual-summertime-bird-banding-project-reunites-a-group-of-scientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds of a feather: An annual summertime bird banding project reunites a group of scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JohnJohn Gerwin, Research Curator of Ornithology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, holds an adult male prairie warbler. The bird models a metal ID band on its leg. Photo: John Gerwin\/NCMNS.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Paige Miranda<\/a>, WUNC<\/em><\/p>\n

On a muggy prairie just southwest of Asheboro, Gabriela Garrison and her 12-year-old daughter Eleana huddle around a young cardinal. Eleana holds the bird loosely in place with a \u2018bander’s grip.\u2019 The bird\u2019s head pokes out from between her pointer and middle finger, while the rest of her hand closes gently over the feathered torso. From this comfortable position, the duo affix an ID band to the cardinal\u2019s outstretched leg. In addition to banding, the Garrisons note the age, sex, fat storage, and weight of the cardinal in a logbook.<\/p>\n

This cardinal is a particularly plucky bird, and squawks throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cCardinals are so angry!\u201d Eleana exclaims.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Gabriela counters. \u201cThey\u2019re feisty.\u201d<\/p>\n

This upland prairie is the site of an active experiment. Every summer, scientists like Gabriela, who is the eastern Piedmont habitat conservation coordinator for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, journey to this same meadow to band birds as part of an ongoing initiative to learn more about the animals and the prairie they dwell on. The land was formerly a cow pasture but has since been converted to native grasslands, leading researchers to ask how these changes would affect bird populations.<\/p>\n

John Gerwin is an ornithologist and research curator at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. He has led this study since the fall of 2015 and sees this land restoration as an ecological success story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you build it, do they come?\u201d Gerwin asks. \u201cWell, they built it. And yes, the birds are here along with all these other pollinators and these other things that we document while we’re here, but it definitely has attracted a lot of different species.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banding has also enabled the scientists to chart birds\u2019 migratory patterns, breeding behaviors, and health over the years near the Uwharrie National Forest, an area that previously did not have an active banding site.<\/p>\n

Read the full article on WUNC<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

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