[texbirds] banded oystercatchers

From: "Susan Heath" <sheath@xxxxxxxx>
To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:29:13 -0500

TexBirders,

As many of you know, GCBO has an ongoing project studying American
Oystercatchers on the Upper and Central coasts. The breeding season is over
for this species now and so they will begin to wander between now and
December/January when they pair up and start defending their territories
again. This year we had a Texas State student working on the upper coast and
a Texas A&M student working on the central coast. All told we have now
banded 125 adult and 58 chick oystercatchers. Chicks can be told from full
adults by having black on their bills. Chicks from last year still have a
small amount of black on their bill so if you look closely you should be
able to tell them apart from full adults still. I would greatly appreciate
everyone checking the legs of oystercatchers that they see for bands. They
are banded on each leg above the ankle (what appears to be knee) with
identical maroon color bands that have two codes on them. The codes are
either two numbers, two letters, or a letter and a number combination.
Again, the codes on each leg are identical. These bands can be hard to see
unless you look closely. I'd appreciate any sightings of banded
oystercatchers be sent to me. Photos are greatly appreciated. This helps is
track movements of this species during the non-breeding season and also
chick movements which are very important for conservation. You can see what
the bands look like and read about this project on our website here:

http://www.gcbo.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/246/MenuGroup/Home.htm

There is also a link to a spreadsheet which has information about where each
bird was banded.

Thanks everyone.

Sue

Susan A. Heath, PhD
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
103 Hwy 332 West
Lake Jackson, TX 77566
979-480-0999
www.gcbo.org




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[texbirds] banded oystercatchers

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