Tools for the Field

It takes a bit of organization and a couple sturdy bags to go out in the field for bird banding.

Here's a photo rundown of all the tools and equipment I use:

We keep the mist nets in these very high tech and fancy plastic bags. (hah)

Not pictured are the net poles, which come in two pieces. One thicker pole serves as the base and is cinched at the end that gets hammered (or rather malletted) into the ground. A thinner pole rests on top allowing the net to be raised about 3 meters high.

The stakes and parachute cord stabilize the poles and ensure the net is taught.

The Nuttall's white-crowned sparrow playlist gets set to repeat and placed with the speaker under the middle of the net. The males are usually pretty responsive and are caught within 5 minutes or less.

My phone multitasks as a camera and GPS unit as well. A very useful device. 

I found moody dinosaur sheets at a thrift store to make these great bird bags. After a bird is removed from the mist net he gets placed into these bags before processing to keep him calm.

Once I catch a bird these two kits come into play. I've co-opted a couple luggage travel kits to keep everything organized.

Before taking the bird out of the bag, I get out my datasheet. I look up the list of color combos and pick one for the bird. Each code will always include a USGS silver band.

The first thing I do during processing is band the bird. The USGS silver band gets applied first. Each one of these has a unique number on it. The pin on the banding pliers is used to open the band and the nose of the pliers is used to close the band around the bird's leg. The small silver applicator is used to stretch out and apply the plastic color bands.

These tools are pretty self-explanatory. The calipers are the most precise and are used for leg and beak measurements. 

Once the morphological measurements are complete, I move on to bleeding.

Before bleeding I make sure each of these items are easily accessible. The less you have to deal with while handling a bird the better. I unwrap the needle, take out an individual capillary tube, and lay out two clean slides. 

I extend the bird's wing out and wet the feathers with an alcohol prep pad to get clear access to the vein. After a quick prick with the needle, I fill about 2/3 of the capillary tube with blood. Then I immediately place a cotton ball on the cut and tuck the bird's wing back in to apply pressure. Before the blood coagulates, I quickly drop one small drop on each of the two slides and use a third slide to make a smear. 

I then blow the remaining blood from the capillary tube into lysis buffer. This stabilizes the blood and preps it for DNA processing. Each slide and buffer tube is labeled with a unique ID that ties back to my datasheet. 

While the bird is in "recovery" with the cotton ball tucked under his wing, I take pictures of the side and top of his head for later reference. Nuttall's white-crowned sparrows can be aged based on their crown plumage, which is brown as a juvenile and turns black as they mature.

This is "S/KOY". You can see that he's growing in his black crown but that he's still got a bit of brown lingering. I write down the image numbers in the notes section so they can be connected back with the correct individual.

These last two items are essential when working with birds. The hot box is for "just-in-case" situations when a bird is too stressed or cold to fly away. The bird is placed back into the cloth bag and the whole bag is put into the hot box with an activated hand warmer. The combination of heat and darkness helps the bird regain his strength and after a few minutes he's able to fly strongly away.

Hand sanitizer is useful (birds really like to poop on you) and essential when a bird is infected with a contagious agent. 

For example this bird, "KMM/S", had a little growth on his beak. I suspect he is infected with avian pox, which is indicated by growths like this on the beak and feet. I sanitized my hands and all the banding tools that touched this guy before moving on to the next bird. 

Some of these supplies belong to my lab but many of them I have been able to buy thanks to generous donations from blog readers. I want to send out a special thank you to anyone who has donated! Thank you for helping me carry out this important research and being a part of my master's journey. 

Thank you also to everyone who reads this little blog. I love working with these birds and hope you are enjoying reading about them!

Until next time.

The White-crowned Sparrows of Golden Gate Park

This past week I set out independently to target net, band, and bleed white-crowned sparrows in Golden Gate Park. It has ended up being a very successful endeavor so far - we caught 17 birds in 4 days! A special thank you to Dave and Justin for helping me out.

This is just a small screenshot of net locations. The green x's are where we successfully caught birds. (The other points are from my initial site visits and mark where I heard birds)

The toughest part to learn was the bleeding - it's nerve-wracking pricking such a small vein! I was worried that I would poke the birds too hard with needle so most of the first few birds hardly bled at all. Turns out I just wasn't pricking in the right place. By day 4 I felt much more comfortable and was able to get a great sample from each bird.

The first bird I banded at GGP! (S/YKB):

But my favorite bird was this male, "RBM/S":

As you can see he is still pretty young. White-crowned sparrows have a brown crown in their first year of life. Chicks hatch in the spring so if you find a bird in the latter part of the year with a brown crown you can pretty confidently call it a hatch year bird. On January 1st all birds turn 1, no matter what day they were born. This male is an after hatch year since he obviously wasn't born this year but hasn't fully developed his black and white crown yet.

Despite his younger age, this male has managed to secure and defend a great territory. It encompasses a wide area as well as a water source. It even crosses a road, which can be risky. He was conspicuously and consistently singing from multiple perches. I set up the net and playback and within 30 seconds he was caught. If another male were actually in his territory, you can be sure he wouldn't be there for long.

The blue outlines a small lake and waterfall, the red circle is roughly the outline of his territory, and the green x is where I caught him. 

After processing and release most birds take a moment to regain their composure. They ruffle their feathers and investigate their new color bands (and usually try to pick them off.) Imagine yourself after giving blood, you need a moment to build energy back up. Not this guy though. After a quick preening he was back on his perches and singing within one minute. If will be really interesting to find out if he is infected with malaria!

I plan to continue Golden Gate Park this week and weekend and then begin audio recording. Stay tuned!

Collecting Data in the Field

In this first stage of my research, I'm going out to the city parks of San Francisco and collecting initial data on Nuttall's white-crowned sparrows, as well as marking them for later identification. Here's a photo summary of the steps.

First we scope out the landscape - both visually and listening for a singing white-crown.

Jenny and Kathleen spotting white-crowns at Lake Merced. 

If we spot a white-crown:

We set up a mist net:

Dave raising a net in the Presidio.

Ravinder and Jasper untangling a net.

Then we set up a playback underneath the net.

And sometimes a decoy bird:

Jenny's amazing white-crowned sparrow decoy.

Then we wait and hopefully a bird flies into the net. As soon as a bird is caught we rush up to remove him or her and stop the playback to minimize stress. The bird is placed in a cloth bag before we take measurements. 

We first band the bird. As I mentioned in the last post there is a unique sequence of color bands that get applied to each individual so we can identify them with binoculars later on. 

Here I'm applying a silver USGS band to a white-crown.

Then we take morphological measurements:

Weight

Wing

Tail

And more that aren't pictured.
Then we take a blood sample. Using an alcohol swab or water we wet the feathers around the brachial vein that runs across the bird's "elbow."

 Using a small needle, bevel up, parallel to the vein and at a 45° angle, we quickly and shallowly puncture the vein.

We collect a very small amount of blood in a capillary tube. Using gravity to our advantage the natural blood flow of the bird quickly fills the tube. 

A clear view of the brachial vein.

We use the collected blood to make a couple microscope slides and store the rest for later DNA processing in the lab.

Ravinder is very good at making blood smears. I'm still learning the nuances of this technique.

This concludes the "processing" of the bird. We take him back to the net where he was captured and let him go. He is ruffled but after a quick preening and exploration of his new color bands and he flies off.

Up next I'll provide a rundown of the tools necessary for ornithology field work - banding pliers, special rulers, etc. including some of the items your generous donations have allowed me to purchase. Thank you thank you thank you!