2010 Bander Training at FLSP

Greetings. The 2010 spring season is but eight weeks away! The Station will set up on the weekend of February 27-28. We will be open on seven of the first fourteen days of March again in 2010 and daily thereafter until May 31st.

Basic bander training will be offered for the second year over two weekends, one in late March and one in mid-April. The Notice is below.

Water levels in the Park are now unusually high, given 61" of rainfall in 2009--much in the late fall. This may attract some interesting migrants come spring 2010. Plan to visit the Station this spring as the weather warms and the birds become active. Above are two birds from 2009--a resident Pileated Woodpecker and a migrant Bicknell's Thrush. The Bicknell's is likely enjoying some time in the Dominican Republic just now.


Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
at First Landing State Park.

Basic Bird Banding Training Session, 2010.

The Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory (“CVWO”) with the cooperation and assistance of First Landing State Park will offer a basic, bird banding training program over two weekends in March and April 2010. The program is intended to begin to train individuals with an interest in pursuing avian field research opportunities in the necessary skills and basic literature essential to such research. This is the second year that CVWO has offered bander training at First Landing.

The single session will be held over two weekends of March 26-28, 2010 and April 9-11, 2010 in the Park and at the passerine banding station run there by CVWO. Participants will stay in a group residence in the Park. Seminar sessions will take place during Friday and Saturday evenings. Field training is on Saturday and Sunday beginning one hour before sunrise, weather permitting, at the banding station which is a twenty-minute walk by Park trails from the residence. Sunday training will end in the early afternoon.

Training will include: netting and trapping techniques, removal of birds from mist nets, Potter traps and whoosh nets, proper handling and processing of birds (including biometrics, ageing and sexing) and data management. The course will use training manuals produced by the North American Banding Council and Pyle, Identification Guide to North American Birds, vol. 1, (1997). The course will be taught by an NABC-certified Trainer.

A preference will be given to current college students or recent graduates demonstrating an interest in avian research. Enrollment will be opened to other interested individuals after March 12, 2010. The proceeds of the course will benefit the research and conservation programs of CVWO. The cost for the course to students/recent graduates, which includes housing and course materials, is $275.00 ($250.00, plus a $25.00 registration fee). The cost to other participants is $450.00. Transportation, food and bedding are the responsibility of each participant. A kitchen is available in the group residence, as are beds and bunks. Enrollment is limited to a maximum of ten participants.

All interested individuals should promptly contact Peter Doherty by e-mail at leasttern AT hotmail.com. Please provide a statement of your particular interest in participating in the training session. If seeking the “student-recent graduate preference”, also provide an outline of current or recent college affiliation and course of study, together with at least one faculty reference and contact information. Decisions concerning enrollment will be made beginning February 24, 2010.