Marsh Sparrow Banding

Nelson Sparrow on the left   Salt Marsh Sparrow on the right

Breast cancer taught me not to miss life happening around me.  Winter our marshes are loaded with unique sparrows.  We have Seaside Sparrows year around but in the winter the northern race Seaside Sparrow are here.  There are two other sparrows that winter here.  There is the Salt Marsh Sparrow from the northeast.  There are two races of Nelson’s Sparrows.   Breast cancer taught me not to miss life happening around me.  Winter our marshes are loaded with unique sparrows.  We have Seaside Sparrows year around but in the winter the northern race Seaside Sparrow are here.  There are two other sparrows that winter here.  There is the Salt Marsh Sparrow from the northeast.  There are two races of Nelson’s Sparrows

This week the tides are super high.  These sparrows are on the edges of the marshes instead of spreading out across the vast marsh.  We need to know about these sparrows that use out marsh as their winter home.  How does that happen?  

The scientists have to get to know them so they go out to meet them.  To learn more they band the birds.  That is what I went out to watch on Thursday.  I am not able to get in the thick of things because the chemo has weakened my feet and hands.  Now that does not stop me for I can take photos and report this interesting process. 

First they must gather the birds.  They walk out into high marsh with a line.  This high marsh is safe to walk.  (Sidebar: Not all of our marsh is not safe to walk don’t try it by yourself.)  

The birds fly into the special nets.  Everyone is there to get the birds safely into holding bags for trainer master banders.  

The bands they use are from the US Geological Service Banding Lab.  They are light-weight aluminum bands with numbers stamped into the band.  Each number is unique.  These numbers are stored at the banding lab. Here is Tim Keyes preparing to band these birds.  

The two target species are studied carefully.  Then they are photographed with the unique number to study even further. 

It was a fun morning.  I even helped by record the information when they need skilled people to help at the nets.  Life is too short to miss watching these talented scientists at work.  They help us see that the salt marsh is more than a sea of grass.  

Sunday afternoon find

On Sunday, I met a group of parents with their young children for a walk at East Beach on St. Simons Island. It was a beautiful afternoon. The children were having a blast. We discovered a few cannonball jellyfish

but the fascinating find was a small pair of wings with orange stubby legs and feet attached. There was aluminum band on one of the legs. I took the band and told them I would let them know about the bird. Not too many years back, I would have written a letter with the banded number then mailed it to the bird banding lab and waited .

Here we are talking about the find on the beach.

We now live in the 21st century and it is so easy to find out about the bird from the band.
Just go to the bird banding website. Click on Report a bird band and follow the directions. In less than fifteen minutes I knew that the bird was a Forester’s Tern. It was banded in Wisconsin on June 19, 2006. I sent the information on to a couple of the families. One family got out the map and found Wisconsin. They got to see how far this one bird had traveled. Wow! How cool is that!