FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Re: late hummers

[Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

No one can legitimately attack the overall value that banding birds has
brought to their conservation.    Banding rarities may not be as useful as
rigorous programs for birds in general, but it nonetheless allows for the
potential recovery of a bird at a later date in a different location, which
can yield MUCH more information than just knowing that something occurred in
a given place on a certain date.  At the same time it often confirms the
identity.

Many of you may recall we visited these points last winter with the Snowy
Owl in Pendleton County.  It all boils down to personal beliefs . . . but as
one who harms the natural world on a daily basis by burning gallons of
fossil fuels driving around, staying warm and cool, using a computer, and
eating every day, I feel that I could band many, many birds and have far
less impact on them overall doing that banding than say using my computer
every day.

Stuff happens.  When that random bird flies in front of the car and you have
no chance not to hit and kill it, does it make you quit driving? I have to
agree that it is a bit bogus to figure that the Ohio hummer died simply
because it was in bad condition. If allowed to feed for several days, the
bird could have been in better condition and, thus, able to survive the
trauma of banding.   I know first-hand that Bob Sargent's volunteer banders
are well-trained, but I don't doubt that an occasional mishap is going to
happen.  I'm sure Bob could tell you how many are banded successfully . . .
and to hear that a bird is banded in the east one winter and to KNOW that it
survives to the next, or that it can turn up elsewhere in the east months
later or somewhere in the west the following year, is very useful
information (all of these circumstances have been documented by band
recoveries).  To unravel the mystery of how these little hummers get into
the eastern U.S. and what their chances are to survive to breed again in the
west or points beyond, certainly seems worth the risk to me.

bpb, Louisville
brainard.palmer-ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============

The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign 
your messages with first & last name, city, & 
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx