BSBO
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Mission and Vision Statement
    • Equality and Diversity Policy
    • Annual Report
    • BSBO Board of Directors
    • BSBO Staff
    • BSBO's Visitors' Center >
      • Visit BSBO
      • Anna Macke Mikolajczyk Window On Wildlife
      • John Gallagher Memorial Birding Trail
    • eNews
    • BSBO Videos >
      • BSBO's 20th Anniversary by Deb Neidert
    • BSBO Blogs >
      • Kenn Kaufman's Crane Creek - Magee Birding Blog
      • BSBO Bird Bander's Blog
      • BSBO Education and Outreach Blog
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Support BSBO
    • Donate
    • Join or Renew
    • Sponsor A Mist Net
    • Year-End Appeal
    • Help BSBO while you shop
    • Our Wish List
    • Birds and Business Alliance
  • RESEARCH
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Passerines >
      • Passerine Research
      • Prothonotary Warbler Research
      • Building Collision Study
      • Oak Openings
    • Project SNOWstorm >
      • About Project SNOWstorm
      • Meet Buckeye
      • Meet Wolverine
    • Northern Saw-whet Owls
    • Research Highlights >
      • Gray-Cheeked Thrush from Colombia, South America
      • BSBO Bird Bander's Blog
    • Past Research >
      • Colonial Wading Birds
      • Ohio Winter Bird Atlas
      • Shorebirds
    • Reports >
      • Navarre Marsh Annual Banding and Survey Data
      • Annual Project Reports
    • Research Volunteer Form
    • Research Volunteer Page
  • EDUCATION
    • Bird Migration Profiles >
      • Cuckoos, Nightjars, Hummingbrids
      • Hawks, Woodpeckers
      • Flycatchers, Vireos
      • Crows, Nuthatches, Creepers
      • Wrens, Gnatcatchers, Kinglets
      • Thrushes, Mimids, Waxwings
      • Finches, Sparrows
      • Blackbirds, Chat, Cardinals
      • Warblers
    • Family Activities >
      • Free Online Resources
    • Young Birders >
      • Ohio Young Birders Club
      • Young Birders Network
      • Youth Birding Camps
    • Teachers >
      • Wetland Investigation Network
      • Songbird Banding and Migration Programs
      • Students Against Balloon Releases
    • Group Programs >
      • Presentations by Request
    • BSBO Bird Knowins
  • Conservation
    • BioBlitzes
    • Bird-safe / Birder-friendly Communities
    • Responsible Wind Energy
    • Conservation Updates
    • Position Statement on Feral and Free-Ranging Cats
    • Habitat Designations
    • Easy Ways for YOU to Support Conservation
    • Breeding Bird Surveys
  • EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
    • Birds at Home
    • Lake Erie Pelagics
    • Highway Clean-up
    • Killdeer Plains Wintering Hawks & Owls Trip
    • Fremont Christmas Bird Count
    • BSBO's Biggest Week In American Birding
  • NW OHIO BIRDING
    • Responsible Owl Viewing
    • Magee Marsh WA Closures
    • Kenn Kaufman's Crane Creek - Magee Birding Blog
    • Local Birding Hotspots
    • Local eBird Tips
    • Regional Bird Checklist
    • Timing of Spring Migration
    • Timing of Fall Migration
    • Timing of Fall Shorebird Migration
    • ABA Code of Birding Ethics
    • Ohio Bird Alpha Codes
    • Birder Calling Cards
    • Birding Ohio
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Mission and Vision Statement
    • Equality and Diversity Policy
    • Annual Report
    • BSBO Board of Directors
    • BSBO Staff
    • BSBO's Visitors' Center >
      • Visit BSBO
      • Anna Macke Mikolajczyk Window On Wildlife
      • John Gallagher Memorial Birding Trail
    • eNews
    • BSBO Videos >
      • BSBO's 20th Anniversary by Deb Neidert
    • BSBO Blogs >
      • Kenn Kaufman's Crane Creek - Magee Birding Blog
      • BSBO Bird Bander's Blog
      • BSBO Education and Outreach Blog
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Support BSBO
    • Donate
    • Join or Renew
    • Sponsor A Mist Net
    • Year-End Appeal
    • Help BSBO while you shop
    • Our Wish List
    • Birds and Business Alliance
  • RESEARCH
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Passerines >
      • Passerine Research
      • Prothonotary Warbler Research
      • Building Collision Study
      • Oak Openings
    • Project SNOWstorm >
      • About Project SNOWstorm
      • Meet Buckeye
      • Meet Wolverine
    • Northern Saw-whet Owls
    • Research Highlights >
      • Gray-Cheeked Thrush from Colombia, South America
      • BSBO Bird Bander's Blog
    • Past Research >
      • Colonial Wading Birds
      • Ohio Winter Bird Atlas
      • Shorebirds
    • Reports >
      • Navarre Marsh Annual Banding and Survey Data
      • Annual Project Reports
    • Research Volunteer Form
    • Research Volunteer Page
  • EDUCATION
    • Bird Migration Profiles >
      • Cuckoos, Nightjars, Hummingbrids
      • Hawks, Woodpeckers
      • Flycatchers, Vireos
      • Crows, Nuthatches, Creepers
      • Wrens, Gnatcatchers, Kinglets
      • Thrushes, Mimids, Waxwings
      • Finches, Sparrows
      • Blackbirds, Chat, Cardinals
      • Warblers
    • Family Activities >
      • Free Online Resources
    • Young Birders >
      • Ohio Young Birders Club
      • Young Birders Network
      • Youth Birding Camps
    • Teachers >
      • Wetland Investigation Network
      • Songbird Banding and Migration Programs
      • Students Against Balloon Releases
    • Group Programs >
      • Presentations by Request
    • BSBO Bird Knowins
  • Conservation
    • BioBlitzes
    • Bird-safe / Birder-friendly Communities
    • Responsible Wind Energy
    • Conservation Updates
    • Position Statement on Feral and Free-Ranging Cats
    • Habitat Designations
    • Easy Ways for YOU to Support Conservation
    • Breeding Bird Surveys
  • EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
    • Birds at Home
    • Lake Erie Pelagics
    • Highway Clean-up
    • Killdeer Plains Wintering Hawks & Owls Trip
    • Fremont Christmas Bird Count
    • BSBO's Biggest Week In American Birding
  • NW OHIO BIRDING
    • Responsible Owl Viewing
    • Magee Marsh WA Closures
    • Kenn Kaufman's Crane Creek - Magee Birding Blog
    • Local Birding Hotspots
    • Local eBird Tips
    • Regional Bird Checklist
    • Timing of Spring Migration
    • Timing of Fall Migration
    • Timing of Fall Shorebird Migration
    • ABA Code of Birding Ethics
    • Ohio Bird Alpha Codes
    • Birder Calling Cards
    • Birding Ohio

Enjoying our blogs?

Your support helps BSBO continue to develop and deliver educational content throughout the year.
Donate Today

Grab your waders!

4/16/2019

0 Comments

 
As long as winter may have felt, the icy winds and snow have quickly faded, and the BSBO research team is back out in the Navarre Marsh, ready to begin operations for the 2019 spring migration season. Well… we were almost ready. With heavy precipitation and strong northerly winds throughout the winter months, the section of marsh the banding station is situated in has been completely inundated by water. We experienced this a bit last year (which aided in catching some of our first-ever Belted Kingfishers), but this year is a whole different level of “flooded.” To best capture birds and sample the movement of different species through the marsh, many of our nets run over boardwalks to get into aquatic habitats such as buttonbush swale. However, the marsh has decided to take these boardwalks for her own and many of them succumbed to the murky waters. For the safety of the birds, volunteers, and staff that work in the station, banding operations could not start until these boardwalks were raised. Thus, a week that could have been spent banding birds and collecting early migration data, was spent waist-deep in the frigid marsh waters, shoving blocks of wood under water-logged boardwalks. Oh what fun!
Picture
The team working to raise the net 23 boardwalk.
Normally, the research team heads into the marsh a week before our (amazing) volunteers begin coming out. Generally we take this time to get things set up, work out any kinks, and get ourselves back in the groove of banding birds. Not so much this year. Instead we spent four and half days elevating platforms (in some instances, literally elevating the whole thing out of the water), rebuilding some boardwalks, and constructing extensions to span formerly dry areas. As grueling as it was, we had a pretty fun few days getting to know the marsh bottom and the boardwalks a little better; days filled with laughs, sore muscles, leaky waders, and some good ol’ fashion marsh ingenuity. 
Picture
Day 1, net 17: "What are we going to do with this thing?"
Picture
Day 1, net 17, far end: "Lets just tip it and screw 4 stacked 6"x6"s to each corner.
Picture
Day 2, net 17, near end: "Lets do exactly what we did yesterday, and hope it's level."
​While we weren’t able to operate during this construction time, we did have any opportunity to receive some new training. In collaboration with Powdermill Avian Research Center and others, BSBO will be affixing radio transmitters to certain species this year as part of a project spanning the Lake Erie shoreline. So while we didn’t get to fully operate the station last week, our research team did learn proper techniques for fitting radio harnesses to birds including sizing, actually fitting a harness to a bird, proper tightness, and positioning. Stay tuned for more on this topic as the season develops! 
Picture
Fitting the radio harness loop around a RWBL's leg.
Picture
Testing the tightness of the secured radio on the RWBL's back.
PictureBlue-gray Gnatcatcher
Finally, after some long, cold days, loads of lumber, and a couple boxes of screws… we were ready to begin banding on Friday the 12th (with the confidence that our feet and nets would stay dry). From being in the marsh earlier in the week, we could already tell from mere observations that there was definitely some good migrant movement occurring in the region. Even though we were a little late to start sampling birds, on Friday and Saturday we were able to catch some remaining Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

With most of these “winter” birds leaving, others have rapidly been replacing them and the marsh has been filled with the sounds of Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, White-throated Sparrow, and Myrtle Warbler. And while not totally unexpected at this time, with shifting winds going into Saturday, we were happily surprised to encounter an Orange-crowned Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, and House Wren. 

Picture
Orange-crowned Warbler, showing just a hint of his orange crown.
Picture
White-eyed Vireo, typically an early over-shoot migrant along the lake shore.
​Similarly to last year (but more so this season), it will be interesting to see how water levels in the marsh will affect bird movement and our ability to catch them in this incredible, ever-changing habitat. One thing’s for sure though… we’re ready to have a great season filled with birds, friends, and new opportunities to learn more about the wildlife we study, and how we can continue to apply our research to conservation. Thank you to all those that make this important research possible by volunteering your time, supporting BSBO and its efforts, and promoting science and conservation.
Picture
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Picture
Don't forget to have some laughs.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Like the 
    Bander's Blog? 
    ​Then hit the link below and help
    us help the birds
    ​by sponsoring
    a mist net!
    Sponsor a Mist Net

    Authors

    Ryan Jacob, Ashli Gorbet, Mark Shieldcastle

    Archives

    November 2022
    June 2022
    January 2022
    August 2021
    August 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017

    ABOUT THE
    ​NAVARRE MARSH BANDING STATION

    The Observatory's primary banding station is located in Navarre Marsh behind the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station on Toledo Edison property. Migration monitoring consists of constant effort mist netting and migration point counts (5 minute counts at 6 locations at the research site). 

    Habitat is remnant beach ridge consisting of canopy trees of Hackberry, Kentucky Coffeetree, and Cottonwood with tremendous under story of rough-leaved Dogwood on the sand ridges. This is similar to the vegetation found on the well-known beach ridge of the Magee Marsh Bird Wildlife Area where the world-famous boardwalk is situated. 

    Two other remnant beach ridge habitats in Northwest Ohio are the Darby unit of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge. The Navarre beach ridge is the largest of them all occupying about 370 acres of wetland and beach ridge habitat. 

    The Navarre Marsh Migration Monitoring Station is on private property and not open to the public; however, we are able to give access to research students when special arrangements are made in advance. 

    We'd love to hear from you! Let us know how you like the BSBO Bird Bander's Blog by emailing us at: researcher@bsbo.org. 
    Blog Archives
© 2023 www.bsbo.org 
All rights reserved

The mission of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory is to inspire the appreciation, enjoyment, 
and conservation of birds and their habitats through research, education, and outreach.


We are located at the entrance of the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
| 13551 W. State Route 2  |  Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449  |  419.898.4070  |