(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — Fowl conservation analysis has introduced fowl watchers and the neighborhood flocking to Chico Basin Ranch.
The Chico Basin Fowl Banding Station is barely open twice a 12 months, one month in spring and fall, however the analysis gathered on this brief time tells fowl researchers and conservationists loads about migratory birds and their habitats.
“[Birds] they want good stopover websites like we now have right here within the Chico Basin in these little olive groves to cease, relaxation and refuel,” mentioned Julie Shieldcastle, fowl bander. “They often eat lots of bugs and generally eat nectar…earlier than persevering with north to their breeding grounds.”
Chico Basin Ranch, managed by Ranch Lands, is like an oasis for migratory birds that want a sure stage of fats earlier than they really feel snug leaving their non permanent house. Ultimately, the birds will fly as far north as Canada and even Alaska, in line with Shieldcastle.
To watch the well being of migratory birds and the ecosystems they share, fowl banders on the Ranch will lure the birds with skinny nets and place them in breathable baggage.
“You’re taking it out of the bag and we decide what kind of species it’s and what measurement leg it has so we will decide what measurement band to placed on it…. maintain the leg, put the band on, and fold it,” Shieldcastle defined.
Birds are documented by variety of bands, weight, wingspan, and tail size, amongst different metrics, that are then despatched to the fowl banding lab.
“It simply goes to indicate that completely different habitats are actually vital to those birds. And these birds are indicators of the well being of the setting,” Shieldcastle mentioned. “So we must be monitoring them in addition to the remainder of the ecosystem as a result of all of us should dwell right here collectively.”
