BIRD BANDING- CANO PALMA BIOLOGICAL STATION
To do bird banding and identifying, one needs to be up by 5am and the job ends at noon. The day starts by setting up several trap nets around the biological station. We need to do this as fast as possible, since birds start coming out very early.
I have done this work only a few times, with Charlotte, the lead, and some volunteers. I will be doing a couple more times before I leave the station, as I really enjoy it. It is great to learn about each and every bird we catch, to identify it, and then let it go free. We get record of each bird's sex, age, species, craneum and wing size, the status of its plummage, etc.
The job does not entail only the recording of all this information, but also lets you learn all the birds calls and songs, since we also walk the area quietly and carefully a few times during the shift, watching and listening for different species of birds.
I hope that later on, I will be able to apply and improve all the basic skills I have learned working with the birds, and be able to do more of it in the field. Tropical birds are awesome and so beautiful. I would like to try birding back home in Canada in order to compare and get some knowledge of our own little amazing creatures.
To do bird banding and identifying, one needs to be up by 5am and the job ends at noon. The day starts by setting up several trap nets around the biological station. We need to do this as fast as possible, since birds start coming out very early.
I have done this work only a few times, with Charlotte, the lead, and some volunteers. I will be doing a couple more times before I leave the station, as I really enjoy it. It is great to learn about each and every bird we catch, to identify it, and then let it go free. We get record of each bird's sex, age, species, craneum and wing size, the status of its plummage, etc.
The job does not entail only the recording of all this information, but also lets you learn all the birds calls and songs, since we also walk the area quietly and carefully a few times during the shift, watching and listening for different species of birds.
I hope that later on, I will be able to apply and improve all the basic skills I have learned working with the birds, and be able to do more of it in the field. Tropical birds are awesome and so beautiful. I would like to try birding back home in Canada in order to compare and get some knowledge of our own little amazing creatures.
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