While anglers were reeling in catfish and walleye on Lake Erie during
Fish Ohio Day,
Black Swamp Bird Observatory was catching catbirds at
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area near Oak Harbor.
After staff and volunteers from the bird conservation and research agency gently pulled each
Gray Catbird from a mist net they had set up in the woods at Magee Marsh, they determined the birds’ sex and approximate age, weighed them, measured their wings, and fitted each with a tiny aluminum leg band before releasing them.
The band has a unique number to the bird, sort of like a Social Security number, that will help researchers learn more about its condition, migration, and habitat in the area if it is netted again, said
Ryan Jacob, who leads Black Swamp’s
bird-banding program.
“That goes a long way to let researchers know whether the habitat is supporting them in their journey,” Jacob said. “Do they have enough fat? Do they show site fidelity? We should continue to preserve those habitats if they’re coming back year after year.”
The demonstration was part of activities for participants in the Governor’s Fish Ohio Day on July 20 who did not go fishing. Government and tourism officials, as well as members of the media, took a tour of the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ new
Magee Marsh Visitor Center, a tour of the marsh, and learned about Black Swamp’s banding program.
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Ryan Jacob, who leads Black Swamp Bird Observatory's banding program, records weight, wing measurements, and other information about the gray catbird he is holding. (Photo/Kristina Smith)“Many anglers are birders, and many birders are anglers,” said Jacob, explaining why the excursion and tour was a good fit for Fish Ohio.
Black Swamp Bird Observatory is located at Magee Marsh and is building
a new education center on the site. The banding demonstration netted several catbirds, including a baby – identified by its fluffy head and wing feathers - that hatched in the spring.
During spring migration, Black Swamp bands birds daily at Navarre Marsh near the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station outside Oak Harbor and nets about 6,000 each year. They include migrating warblers, hummingbirds, sparrows, and many other species.
“We band more birds per net hour than any banding station in the country,” said
Kimberly Kaufman, Black Swamp Bird Observatory Executive Director. “That’s how important this habitat is in Northwest Ohio. This is one of the most iconic places in the western hemisphere for birding.”
Black Swamp has been doing this work for more than 30 years, and the data it has collected has helped it predict when spring migration will take place each year.
“We can say, if you really want to see a
Blackburnian warbler, here’s the time frame that it will be here,” Kaufman said. “What you can do with this data is really extraordinary.”
Black Swamp puts on the
Biggest Week in American Birding, a 10-day festival centered around predicted peak migration, each year.
It draws 75,000 to 90,000 people to Magee Marsh and surrounding areas.
Last year, Black Swamp banded about 5,700 birds, and about 1 percent, or 57, of them were birds that had been netted during migration in the same area in the past, Jacob said.
“That’s a pretty significant number,” he said.
The warblers migrate from South and Central America to the northern United States and Canada each spring and reverse the trek in the fall. That’s an amazing journey for a tiny bird that could fit in the palm of a person’s hand.
A
Blackpoll Warbler, for example, was one of the birds banded there and netted again in the spring. In the fall, blackpolls tend to take a different migration route than in the spring and head to the East Coast and fly straight down the Atlantic Ocean to South America.
“In one year, that’s a bird that’s traveling almost 11,000 miles and returning to the exact same spot,” Kaufman said. “Because of their journey, blackpolls are just mind-boggling. I don’t think you ever get bored of seeing what these little gems can do.”