Volunteers Needed For Bird-banding Project

by Marci Buettgen

Each spring, biology professor Caleb Gordon of Lake Forest College and his team of dedicated volunteers capture and release about 1,000 migratory birds, such as warblers, thrushes and flycatchers, passing through SWAMP, the Shaw Woods Avian Monitoring Project, a bird-banding station in Lake Forest, Illinois. Each bird is carefully netted, weighed, examined, and gently banded before being released.

Banding stations record data that help scientists understand migration pathways, how long migrating birds live, how long individual birds stay at stop-over sites, and their general health. The data, which is entered into a national database, can also help researchers detect declines in specific species populations over several years.

SWAMP is a collaborative project between Lake Forest College and the Lake Forest Open Lands Association and dozens of citizen-scientists and volunteers.

SWAMP operates as part of a network of migration bird banding stations across the United States, which together record 1.1 million bandings completed and 75 thousand banded birds recovered annually.

VOLUNTEERS' DUTIES:

Volunteers will help set up special mist nets, keep records, and help scientists band and release birds. No previous bird banding experience is required.

WHEN ARE VOLUNTEERS NEED:

Every day in May, anytime between 5:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon.

TO SIGN UP:

The bird banding station is located in a private preserve owned by the Lake Forest Open Lands Association and has very limited parking available, so VOLUNTEERS MUST SIGN UP IN ADVANCE. Please contact Caleb Gordon, SWAMP Project Manager, at gordon@lfc.edu.