KOKOMO, Ind. – A class that starts at 7 a.m. is for the birds — literally.
A dozen students in an Indiana University Kokomo ornithology class spent one early Friday morning learning about campus wildlife with a visit from a master bird bander, who demonstrated how birds are captured, marked, and released, as part of a research field experience.
“Students get more engaged in studying birds after an experience like this, where they see first-hand how we track them,” said Lina Rifai, associate professor of vertebrate biology. “They get to see how we collect the data, and also see the birds up close. They usually see them from far away, through binoculars. They see more of the personality of the bird, like the cardinal that kept biting my finger.”
Her class usually includes a field trip to the Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary in Connersville, which is owned by the Indiana Audubon Society. For this session, however, she invited master bander Amy Wilms and her team to campus, so students could be part of the process from setting up the nets to tear down, and also gain an appreciation for campus wildlife.
Before the sun even rose, they were out in the clearing just north of the Kelley House, and in the woods setting up mist nets, which resemble lightweight volleyball nets, to gently traps birds to be studied. Rifai noted that those handling the birds have been trained and received a permit, so they know how to do so without injuring them.
Then, they wait. It takes about an hour for the first bird, a cardinal, to fly into the net. It’s placed in a breathable bag, and carried up to a banding station, where Rifai gently attaches a numbered band to its leg, then begins taking its vital statistics — length of foot, beak length, skull measurements, wing and tail length, body fat percentage, age, and weight.
The feisty cardinal is having none of it, continually clamping its beak down on Rifai’s finger and she holds it in a bander’s grip, which holds the wings down without putting pressure on its chest.
Minutes later, she places the bird on student Joseph Hackett’s open hand, and allows it to fly away.
Hackett said they’ve read and talked about how researchers band birds, but it was more interesting to see it and be able to ask questions during the process.
“I like that we’re part of field work, and getting out and seeing the birds in real life,” said Hackett, from Kokomo.
As they wait for the next bird to examine, students watch and listen for birds, working together to identify the calls they hear. The class has made them more aware of the birds around them.
“It’s interesting how these birds have always been around, but we weren’t paying attention to them as much,” said Christyn Gephart, Frankfort.
“I’ve noticed that even when I’m not here, I hear birds, and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, I know what you are,’” said Savanna McGee, from Carmel. “It’s much easier to identify them when they are right here close.”
Even though they only banded two birds — the second is a white breasted nuthatch — Rifai called the day a success.
“Today, there wasn’t much activity, and that’s how research is sometimes,” she said. “It’s nice to show them that on good days and bad, you can still learn something from it. They understand how much work it is to get this information, and how much research it takes to learn about birds.”
The research day was part of the Kokomo Experience and You (KEY) program, which provides students chances to connect with people and participate in real-world experiences.
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.
Description of the video:
Bird Banding Transcript
DA = Descriptive Audio
[DA - It’s early morning and dark. You can see silhouettes of people working against the morning sky as the sun is coming up.]
[DA - Bryan Kay explains what they are doing]
We're doing bird banding, which involves setting up things called mist nets.
[DA – Joseph Hackett continues the description of what is happening]
We have to drive the poles down about 12 inches or so, you attach the net to that side. You move it across. And then until it's fairly tight and you drive to the next pull down 12 inches, and then you can start attaching all the nets to the poles and extending them up so that they're the right height.
[DA - Bryan Kay explains what they are doing standing in front of a wooded area.]
They're very fine nets that the birds can't see. And they'll fly into them, get caught, and then it allows us to size them, sex them, check out all their preliminary data points basically, and put a put a band, which is like a little bracelet on their ankle, I guess, that would allow us to then track them if they're caught again in the future somewhere else.
[DA – Dr. Lina Rifai asks the class what bird she is holding before cutting to her interview standing in a grassy opening.]
So can you guys tell me what this is? OK, cardinal. Now... I think a lot of times what's really exciting just to be this close to a bird, because we've been spending a lot of time looking at them far away and trying to see the color, see the personality of the birds, too, like cardinals that just like to clamp down on your finger and get some skin and really hurt you.
[DA - Bryan Kay explains what they are doing standing in front of a wooded area.]
So far, we've caught a female northern cardinal and a male white breasted nuthatch. You can kind of get the detail of the wing patterns a little bit more than you can from the book or from viewing from a distance.
[DA – Oriana Barnard is interviewed in front of a wooded area.]
It's really nice having like, these.... being able... in close, like you're getting up close to the bird. You're not just reading about it, because I know in high schools it's a lot of just like, books and stuff. You have a lot of the experience of actually seeing things up close, getting that, "being out in the field" work a lot more, which is very interesting.
[DA – Dr. Lina Rifai continues her interview]
We're going to get to experience what it's like, and for example, today is a slow day and that's part of research. Sometimes things go fast. Other times you sit there for an hour or two and nothing happens. The closer you are, the more real it is.
Not that they're not real when you look at them, but you get to see some of the personality. So I think that's part of it. And in general, I think they get a more personal connection to it. And it doesn't become just this thing we see far away through binoculars.
[DA – Dr. Lina Rifai assists a student letting a bird fly away]
One, two and three. Oh, doesn't... she doesn't know yet that she's free.
[The IU Kokomo logo pops up on the screen with the text visit dot iuk dot edu under the logo.]
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