Songbird Banding Research Station Volunteer Form

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Black Swamp Bird Observatory’s research program! Our main volunteer opportunity is at the Navarre Banding Station - our long-term migration study site located in the Navarre Marsh unit of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. As part of our team of volunteers, you’ll have the opportunity to assist with data collection for this important study. You’ll also get the unique experience of seeing many different bird species up close, improving your bird identification skills, and learning more about banding.

​There are a few important things to know about being out in the marsh. First, working in the marsh can be physically demanding; there will be biting insects, bad weather, lots of walking, and long days. Second, we start early in the morning, so timeliness is imperative. You can’t get into the station on your own, and, on busy days, we can’t afford to wait for anyone who might be late. If you think you can handle that, there are a few different jobs that we have for volunteers, including:

• Carrying supply bags to each of our nets
• Carrying birds back to the station for processing
• Weighing birds and reporting the weight to the bander(s)
• Recording data from the bander(s)
• Helping tidy the station at the end of the day

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If you are interested in learning to extract birds from the net, you will be trained by the bander(s) and other experienced volunteers. Volunteering at Navarre can be challenging, but it is also an incredibly rewarding experience, so we’d love to have you join us!

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