Eighteen of New Quarter Park’s baby bluebirds got their official jewelry on Monday. Numbered bands were clipped around the ankles of bluebirds between the ages of 8 and 14 days who were born in boxes along a trail at the park monitored by Historic Rivers Chapter Virginia Master Naturalists volunteers.
Under the watchful eyes of a half dozen of us, Allyson Jackson, a graduate of the College of William and Mary’s biology program, attached the numbered North American Bird Banding Program bands as well as colored bands devised by the William and Mary Graduate Program to indicate the specific box where each bird was hatched. Graduate students like Allyson have been using the data collected from bluebirds at New Quarter and other local parks and golf courses as the basis for research that increases knowledge about birds and their habitats to support management and conservation efforts. The Bird Banding Program supports the work of conservation agencies, students, professional and amateur orinthologists, non-government agencies, and businesses. The data is used to develop hunting regulations, monitor bird populations and behavior, study the effects of environmental contaminants, restore endangered species, and address human concerns about wild birds.
If you should find a dead banded bird, report its number and the location where it was found to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center via their website at www.reportband.gov or by email to bandreports@patuxent.usgs.gov.
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