Bird bander Boo Curry holds a ruby-crowned kinglet for the group to see. Only the male has the ruby crown which usually stays concealed under its gray head feathers. The crown pops up when the bird is excited.
Participants watch Mike Krzywicki carefully remove a bird from the fine mesh capture net. After putting it in a soft cotton bag, he took it to the tent area to be identified, weighed and measured, and other information obtained from it.
To obtain an accurate weight, a bird is placed headfirst in a special tube which immobilizes but does not hurt them.
Bird banders held each of the birds and let everyone get a good look -- and lots of pictures - before releasing them back to the wild.
SEELEY LAKE - Though bird banding usually does not start until June, a group from the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab set up their station May 21 to enable Seeley Lake Elementary School (SLE) students and parents an opportunity to observe the bird-banding process. The activity was another parent-child opportunity supported by the 21st Century grant.
The Seeley Lake banding area is classified as a mixed forest/willow riparian area. Mike Krzywicki, who is in charge of the Bird Ecology Lab's summer program, said only one percent of Montana contains a riparian area yet nine out of every 10 birds require access to a riparian area at some time in their life cycle. He told the group they were lucky to live in such an area.
Krzywicki said banding will take place at the Canoe Trail site every 10 days during June, July and the first week in August. The public is invited to drop by to observe the process and get a close look at the birds. During the short time the SLE group was there, they saw a ruby-crowned kinglet, a yellow warbler, a fox sparrow, a common yellowthroat a Hammond's flycatcher and a northern waterthrush. Krzywicki said over the course of the summer about 1,500 birds will be banded.
The Bird Ecology Lab has staffed the Seeley Lake site for the past five years as part of the continent-wide Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program. The Blackfoot Challenge Education program is partnering to help fund the Seeley Lake station.
In addition to putting an identification band on each bird's leg, the staff records information on the bird's age, sex, body condition and reproductive status. The information MAPS gathers provides a better understanding of the factors that influence bird survival.
Kryzwicki said birds are an indicator species. Their health and productivity mirrors the overall health of an area.
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