Songbirds Fly in For a Tagging Demonstration at the Horicon Marsh

The Horicon Marsh teamed up with volunteers and Licensed Master Bander, Jana Gedymin, from Riveredge Nature Center in Saukville on Oct. 10 to demonstrate the tagging of songbirds.

Community members were encouraged to visit this learning opportunity to watch as they carefully capture, measure and tag the birds. There was even some audience participation.

Tagging went on from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. with their first catch being a beautiful blue jay. Typically blue jays aren’t caught in these nets as they are smart enough to untangle themselves and are too large to get tangled up. This one must have fallen into the net right before the volunteers checked on it.

12 meters is the length of the nets used to capture songbirds. It is capable of being set up by a skilled ornithologist by themself, but it is easier with more people. On this particular day, the wind was not helpful as it makes capturing the birds harder. The nets rely on being undetected by the birds. As the birds are flying their typical path, they hit the net and get tangled inside the loose part. With it being windy, the birds can see the net and avoid it.

When a bird does fall into the net, researchers gently untangle it and place it into a soft bag before being walked over to where they will take their measurements.

Nets are checked very regularly to ensure that the birds are safe and not stuck there for too long. Additionally, nets are not used in the cold or extreme heat as birds aren’t able to regulate their body temperature when tangled. In the winter, ground traps are used instead.

Some of the measurements they record for the birds captured are their weight, wing span, coloring, age and sex. The last two are hard to measure, especially for blue jays.

Age is difficult to determine after one year so they mark down if the bird is below one year or above. It isn’t possible to determine the sex of blue jays unless they are hatching eggs. The female blue jays are the only ones that sit on the eggs so they have a brood patch, a patch of featherless skin. This blue jay in particular did not have one, meaning it could be male or female, since neither can be ruled out in the brood patch’s absence.

Holding the birds gently while tagging them is important as no tagger wants to stress out the birds. They hold them in a claw-like position but do not squeeze the bird, rather they simply hold them in place.

When it’s time to release the birds, the holder moves the bird into an upright position in their palm and releases the claw position. After a few seconds the bird will realize it is no longer being held and fly away. This blue jay was released with the help of one of the attendees.

Oftentimes the same birds end up being caught by the same people. This is not always a bad thing. It allows researchers to make sure the bird is healthy and shows that it survives another year.

Events such as these are designed to educate the public about the importance of preserving and protecting nature. By tagging these birds, it is possible to gather information about the health of the bird population in the area. Their weight, age and overall health is crucial to making sure the ecosystem is running smoothly.

As the weather cools, different birds stop at the marsh during their migration to warmer weather, making this the perfect place to study many species.