Students learn about bird banding at Whitewater

Collin Nienhaus, Clinton Nienhaus, Kaitlyn Dickison, Amy Spitzmueller 

Shauna Stephens

On Dec. 2, six individuals from SMU banded birds as an Outdoor Leadership event at Whitewater State Park. The group assisted Greg Munson, a Rochester-area bird bander, with his educational demonstration.

Individuals learned the basic process of bird banding at a feeder, which included catching birds in a mist net, carefully affixing an aluminum band on the bird’s leg, and keeping detailed notes for research purposes. Everyone in the group successfully separated birds from the net, banded the birds and released them.

The group consisted of Collin Nienhaus, Clinton Nienhaus, Kaitlyn Dickison, Amy Spitzmueller, Shauna Stephens and Malcolm Gold (Business Department). Participants enjoyed unseasonably warm weather and handfuls of black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, and a single Downy woodpecker.  This was the second bird banding opportunity at Whitewater for SMU.