The morning started simply earlier than dawn with competing Nice Horned Owls calling forwards and backwards throughout Oliver Reservoir within the far southwest of the Nebraska panhandle. It was the primary chilly fall-like morning of early September and my chicken banding expertise was about to start, however the challenge had been occurring already for days by Audubon Nice Plains’ Avian Biologist Stephen Brenner. I used to be there to assist, study, and luxuriate in for my very own skilled improvement, but additionally to share the story of our chicken analysis being accomplished throughout the Nice Plains and remind everybody (and myself) that birds are extra than simply indicators and information, they’re connectors. Connectors throughout communities, landscapes, and limits.
“Songbird migration within the western Nice Plains is a little bit of a thriller,” says Stephen, my associate and instructor on this fall bird-banding tour. “Yearly is completely different, from the variety of birds to what species we will even anticipate.” I requested Stephen to elucidate and inform me extra in regards to the challenge we have been engaged on. He went on to elucidate, “With banding, we will get data that different kinds of surveys can’t get, resembling age, physique situation, molt standing, and generally even the inhabitants these birds originated from. All of that is new data for the area but additionally a lot wanted.” I used to be excited to assist and study, and in only a few minutes, we might examine 4 nets organized across the woodland edges of the reservoir to see what birds we’d caught and what information they may inform us. And wow did they inform us!
Simply over 4 hours later we had captured, banded, measured, and launched over 60 birds of a number of migrating species, like Purple-breasted Nuthatches, Grey Catbirds, and delightful Townsend’s Warblers. However the majority of birds (over 40 of them) that day have been Wilson’s Warblers (WIWAs). And so they simply saved coming. The following morning, we captured over 90 birds within the nets, over half of them have been WIWAs. For sure, this saved us busy all morning and practically exhausted our provide of the tiny bands for this species. I assumed to myself, “What a tremendous downside to have, catching and attending to see and research so many birds!”
However why have been so many of those tiny yellow birds with lovely black “toupees” stopping right here and, much more fascinating (and a bit regarding), why did so a lot of them have little or no fats for migration constructed up? Typically in science, our authentic questions result in extra or higher questions, and maybe that’s what the WIWAs have been telling us. Look nearer. Study extra. As I thought of this and sat in exhausted but amazed happiness from attending to see and study from these tiny feathered ambassadors, I requested Stephen once more his ideas.
Banding birds on their migration can reveal all types of data. For the Wilson’s Warbler and others just like the Townsend’s Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, and a number of other western species of flycatcher, it may well additionally assist us to reply not solely the ‘which species’ and ‘once they arrive questions,’ however maybe lead us to ask if they’re stopping in western Nebraska to refuel or are they stopping as a result of lack of different habitat has given them no different selection? Has the habitat degraded over time however the birds developed to cease right here? If solely we might ask the birds straight. (Imagine me, I attempted, however my chicken should not have been the correct dialect.)
Stephen continues to work on these (and extra) vital questions on chicken migration within the western Nice Plains and I used to be the fortunate one which for simply two brief mornings – eight hours in complete – received to expertise it. And whereas all of the questions weren’t answered directly, I actually really feel extra linked to the birds, and this in flip permits me to attach these astounding feathered vacationers to the individuals and communities that will not even know they sneak by each fall. And it actually made me understand what number of of those itty-bitty batteries with wings rely on us, whether or not we understand it or not, to maintain their houses, habitats, and particularly their stopovers and relaxation stops, clear, wholesome, and thriving. I see you, Wilson’s Warblers!
** All photograph Caption for any photograph of chicken in hand should have following wording after the identification caption. The seize, dealing with, and banding of all wild birds was accomplished by educated professionals beneath acceptable federal and state authorizations.
