Bird banding at Camas NWR is an exciting and educational opportunity

“Looks like we’ve got three Brewers sparrows and an Orange-crowned warbler in the net,” exclaimed Victoria Reid, the lead bander at Camas National Wildlife Refuge, last Saturday as she started removing the four birds caught in a net. “We check each net every 30 minutes to make sure they don’t stay in the net too long.”

The four birds were placed in cloth bags and taken into a shelter where they were banded, examined for general health, parasites, amount of fat on their body, weighed and aged. The amount of fat visible through the skin helps determine if the birds are migrants or not.

It was determined that the three Brewers were already part of a migrating group so they were released together so they could regain that group. They were the only Brewers captured on Saturday and were determined to have been raised on Camas NWR.

The net was one of ten “mist nets” put out each morning to capture birds to be banded by an experienced crew to document all birds captured from sunrise for five hours seven days each week. The banding project started on June 15 and will end on October 15 for this year. The program will continue next year for the same dates to finish the two-year study.

“The purpose of this study is to determine whether the loss of water due to drought and the lowering of the aquifer on the refuge, has negatively impacted songbirds in the last 17 years,” stated Austin Young, whose master’s degree program includes the banding. “There was a banding project 17 years ago for two years, which can be compared to what we are finding now.”

Migrating waterfowl numbers have dropped drastically in the last few years, including the large flocks of snow geese in both the spring and fall migrations. Already, this study has shown that some species of songbirds have dropped, as not a single song sparrow has been captured and banded this year. Years ago, it was one of the most visible songbirds on the refuge. The final report after next year will be interesting to see the changes since 2006.

During Saturday’s banding operation there were 13 species with 52 individuals banded and examined. There was also one sage thresher that was recaptured from a previous day and released. The Wilson’s warblers and the sage threshers were the most numerous of the birds captured.

One of the most interesting to me were the fly-catchers that were captured, and being able to see the difference between them. There were four species of them captured, the Dusky, Western, Hammond and Willow with the last two looking almost the same.

“The best way is to examine their primary flight wings in the hand,” said Reid. “The Hammond’s P-10 feather is longer than its P-5 feather, while the Dusky’s P-10 feather is shorter than its P-10 feather. That is impossible to see when the birds are sitting or when they are flying.”

The other interesting thing that happened was one of the nets had to be taken down because a Loggerhead shrike was watching it to kill and eat another songbirds that may get caught. Both Loggerhead and Northern shrikes are songbirds that kill and feed on other songbirds.

“We enjoy visitors coming and seeing what we are doing here,” said Reid. “Anyone is welcome to come any morning from sunrise to five hours after that, every day of the week. We will explain everything we are doing and allow them to release the bird that we capture. Please come a see us band these migrating birds. The warblers are peeking right now and the sparrows and kinglets will soon be here.”

Brian Wehausen, manager of the Camas NWR, reported to me that on September 23, the Friends of Camas, along with the refuge, will be holding their annual “Bird, Bugle and Brunch” activity.

“Activities will begin and 8 a.m. and go to noon with a hayride around the refuge heading out on each hour,” said Wehausen. “We will focus on the improvement construction and the bird banding programs during the rides.”

The improvement on the refuge is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. Three new wells and lining on many of the canals will help with the amount of water on the refuge which should improve the habitat for migrating birds.

I would encourage anyone interested in these programs and events to take a morning and head out to Camas to see what is happening. Releasing banded birds can be very exciting for all who get the opportunity.