Join VCE biologists John Lloyd and Chris Rimmer this Sunday from 7-9:30 am for a participatory field workshop at the Mystery Trail in the Union Village Dam Recreation Area. We'll introduce you to VCE’s newest citizen-science project <http://vtecostudies.org/blog/color-banded-birds-at-union-village-dam/>, which tests the color band resighting skills of birders to help elucidate important aspects of avian population biology, such as longevity, local movements and reproductive success. So far this spring, we’ve banded 7 Gray Catbirds and 9 Song Sparrows at the site, and we’re now asking birders - all of you - to look for and keep track of color-banded individuals of either species that you encounter. We’ve prepared two short guides to collecting and submitting your data <http://vtecostudies.org/projects/forests/citizen-scientist-pilot-project/how-to-participate/>, and reading and reporting color-banded birds <http://vtecostudies.org/projects/forests/citizen-scientist-pilot-project/color-bands-101/> . If weather cooperates, we’ll meet anyone who is interested this Sunday, June 5th, at 7:00 AM for some guided, in-the-field practice with reading color bands. We’ll spend some time birding and looking for color-banded birds (and entering our observations in Vermont eBird <http://ebird.org/content/vt/>, of course), and we'll also give a brief demonstration of how we capture birds in mist nets and uniquely mark them with leg bands. We'll meet promptly at 7:00 AM at the Mystery Trail parking area on Buzzell Bridge Road in the Union Village Dam Recreation Area. The parking area is roughly 0.9 miles from the intersection between Buzzell Bridge Road and Route 113 in Thetford Center. The Mystery Trail is a ~1/4-mile walk from here. Rubber boots and rain gear are recommended, as showers are in the forecast. In the event of steady rain, the workshop will be cancelled. In that case, I'll post an announcement on the listserv by 5:30 am. If showers are light and/or intermittent, we're on. If you aren't able to access e-mail early on Sunday, use your judgment in deciding whether to come. If we have to cancel, Wednesday June 8 will be a likely make-up date. We hope to see some of you there. Chris Rimmer and John Lloyd ________________________ Chris Rimmer Vermont Center for Ecostudies PO Box 420 | Norwich, Vermont 05055 802.649.1431 x1 http://vtecostudies.org/ <http://vtecostudies.org/> To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe: E-mail this command to [log in to unmask]: UNSUBSCRIBE UV-Birders To change your e-mail address: E-mail this command from your old address to: [log in to unmask]: CHANGE UV-Birders [new e-mail address] Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html