California birders needed for bird study

The California Department of Fish & Game seeks volunteers to complete a two-hour training course before trapping and banding Mourning Doves as part of a national study. Participants in the Mourning Dove Banding Program need to be 18 years old or with a guardian and have good organizational skills.

Volunteers will not pay a fee and can participate from the comfort of their homes between June and August. CDFG will provide all supplies after the volunteers complete the training and receive a legal bird handling permit.

The trapping and banding work usually occurs in the early morning (dawn to 10 a.m.) and the late evening (5 p.m. to dusk). Volunteers can work limited hours or only on certain days, and they can place traps almost anywhere, including their own yards. Traps must be checked within every hour it is set to avoid predation and summer heat exposure.

When a Mourning Dove is trapped, a volunteer will band its right leg, record the band number data and release it. The trapping season will end on Aug. 20, and all traps must be pulled by that date. CDFG will need all materials shipped immediately to the office at 1812 9th St., Sacramento 95814, for database entry.

All band recovery data is reported to the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory, where it is added to the national database. Wildlife managers use this information to keep track of the species’ survival and harvest rates.

UPDATE: For more information about the program or to reserve a space at a training session, contact Heather Hlusak at hhlusak@dfg.ca.gov, 916-445-3445, or Karen Fothergill at kfotherg@dfg.ca.gov.

February: National Bird-Feeding Month

Today marks the beginning of National Bird-Feeding Month, sponsored by National Bird-Feeding Society. This year's theme: "Hatching Out - An Introduction to the Wild Bird Feeding Hobby."

The website offers different resources -- such as information about foods, feeders, feeding accessories, and habitats -- and a poster for the event. Can you I.D. the bird in the poster?

Who can you introduce to birdfeeding this month?

2009 Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest winners

Last year, the photo contest during the Great Backyard Bird Count -- organized by Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- generated more than 6,000 entries. Now we can enjoy the winning images.

The contest encompasses winners in six categories: overall, behavior, composition, group, habitat and people. Each category has a first-, second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners as well as nine to 26 honorable mentions. That's a feast for our eyes!

Lynne Marsho of Illinois won first place overall with this Great Blue Heron. Congratulations, Lynne!


Have you signed up for the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count? It's scheduled for Feb. 12-15. You can learn more details in this video.

If you enjoy photo contests, consider WildBird's annual competition. For details about the rules and prizes, look in the March/April 2010 issue, available in early February. You can see previous winners here.

Not too late to join Project FeederWatch!

Want to share your backyard birds with a nationwide project? Then Cornell Lab of Ornithology wants to hear from you!

Project FeederWatch runs from November through April, and during those months, backyard birders count and report the birds visiting their feeders. The citizen science project provides training and materials, so new birders can join the fun, too.

Many details appear here, including the $15 participation fee that covers the research kit provided via snail mail or online. Register today so you can receive the kit as quickly as possible!

Birdfeeding study seeks birders

A survey organized by the Wild Bird Feeding Industry Research Foundation wants more input from birdwatchers who stock feeders at their apartments and houses. Project Wildbird will run through December 2008 and involves an online survey of backyard birdfeeding experiences that typically takes 15 minutes to complete.

With the data, the foundation plans to make recommendations about the food and feeders most likely to attract desired species. Hundreds of participants from 46 states and six Canadian provinces have submitted data so far.

Please spread the word!


WildBird is not affiliated with the foundation.

Tribute to Aelred Geis

I learn something every day, and I learned yesterday about Aelred Geis, who conducted research about backyard birdfeeding after working for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 30 years.

From Howard County Times in Maryland:

Aelred Geis was perhaps the world's foremost expert on backyard bird feeding and a driving force behind the creation of the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area, in Clarksville.

But Geis -- who died Aug. 20 at 78 -- was probably best known locally for getting Columbia founder James Rouse to lie in a ditch on his belly in a wooded area that is now part of the 1,021- acre wildlife refuge, to watch the mating flight of the woodcock.

Later, the article says:

Claire Horvath, the owner and operator of the Wild Bird Center of Columbia, a seed and feeding franchise that is based on Geis' research into what birds prefer to eat, said of Geis: "He just wanted you to do it right, and the right way was his way."

And Geis often was right, Horvath said, adding that many in the bird-feeding industry credit his bird seed and feeder research for creating the $4 billion-a-year industry's standard practices.

"Before he picked up his pen, no one knew what wild birds liked to eat," said George Petrides Sr., who in the 1990s hired Geis to run the research division of his company, Wild Bird Centers of America, a national bird-feeding franchise.

I like learning more about birding's history and the individuals who contributed to our current knowledge. Thank you, Mr. Geis.

Stop feeding the birds!

So says the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:

OLYMPIA, Wash. - After reports of sick or dead birds at backyard feeders in Washington, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has recommended that people temporarily discontinue bird feeding or take extra steps to keep their feeders clean.

Veterinarian Kristin Mansfield advised for people to stop backyard bird feeding for at least a few weeks, if not for the remainder of the summer, to encourage birds to disperse and forage naturally.

She says laboratory analysis of bird carcasses has confirmed salmonellosis, a common and usually fatal bird disease caused by the salmonella bacteria.