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/>


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