Summer Ornithology: Birds in the Hand

Description

Summer Ornithology is a three week, bird-banding course taught entirely in the field.  We leave campus on the first day, travel through some of the best birding country in Oregon, then over the next few days find and set up camp in a place where we can net, process, and band a sufficient number of birds to provide all students with appropriate experience.  We spend the next two weeks netting, processing, banding and releasing several hundred birds of about 25 species.  We focus on aspects of banding protocol, including net placement, removing birds from nets, identification, sexing, ageing, and record-keeping.  We balance the in-hand work with field identification and behavioral observations, and during the last week we tour Steens Mountain and the Malheur area.  This course has been taught for 27 years, and more than 22,000 birds have been banded during that time.  Lower or upper-division credit is awarded depending of the level of academic achievement demonstrated. A photo essay on this program is available through Inside Evergreen and a slide show is available through flickr.