The Audubon Center at Debs Park’s fall  bird banding season is finally upon us.  As part of our community science program, the Audubon Center has opened up its 2nd year of bird banding with biologist and professor Tom Ryan.  Ryan is a veteran bird-bander with over 30 years of experience in the field.  Ryan is a professor at Pasadena City College and Santiago College and is a licensed bird bander.  We are excited to welcome him back for our Fall 2018  bird banding season.

Bird banding allows us to see and measure local and migratory bird species in and around the 17 aces of Debs Park that belong to the Audubon Center.  Birds are captured using mist nets, banded, processed, and released back into the wild.  Don’t worry, this process does not harm the birds.  When a bird is captured and processed, we identify the species, sex, size, and fat distribution.  This allows us to see the health of the bird and the success of its species at the time.   The bird banding team is a group of volunteers led by Ryan.  Ryan provides hands on training on everything—from setting up nets to holding birds and processing them.

While we’re only beginning the migratory season, our nets have been a bit slow these past 3 weeks.  We hope to capture some more migratory birds as fall turns to winter.  We’re beginning to see some migratory birds including the Wilson’s Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow.

We’re excited to see what we’ll band this season and hopeful to see what we can learn from bird banding!  Are you interested in bird banding?  Get more info on how to sign up by emailing debspark@audubon.org!