Song Sparrow crew hard at work on Portland Island
Would you like to have fun outdoors, see lots
of
amazing animals, and contribute to a
globally-unique
scientific
research project? Then read on!
Song Sparrow crew hard at work on Portland Island
From March to August each year we work together with enthusiastic
volunteers
from the
naturalist community, as well as students and colleagues from UBC,
U of T, UWO and
UVIC, studying the physiological, behavioural and demographic effects
of food and
predators on Song Sparrows, at several sites in and around Victoria,
B.C.
Colour-banded Song Sparrow
Every year we monitor about 100 Song Sparrow territories. Half
of these are located in
Victoria, in the Rithets Bog and Swan Lake Conservation Areas, while
the other half are
located on several small islands (Brackman, Hood, Portland, Russell
and Tortoise) near
the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal.
Potter trapping (small box bottom left) and
mist-netting
on Portland Island
We welcome the participation of any enthusiastic naturalist in our
study.
Our activities
include basic bird watching for the identification of colour-banded
individuals, nest searching,
mist-netting, measuring nestlings, radio-tracking juveniles, and small
mammal inventories for
predator identification.
Colour-banding and measuring nestlings
Our sites in Victoria are an easy stroll from the nearest parking
area.
Travel to the islands
is via a small boat, which requires a bit more stamina, but offers
rewards in the form of
breathtaking scenery and the chance to see seals, porpoises, Rhinoceros
Auklets,
Marbled Murrelets and other marine life.
Don't worry, we do have a bigger boat than this!
If you would like to volunteer, please download the volunteer
sign-up
sheet in MS Excel
format, fill it in and send it to us as an e-mail attachment, or
download
the Adobe PDF
version, print it out, fill it in and post it to us. For more
information please e-mail or phone:
|
mclinchy@uvic.ca or lzanette@uwo.ca
|
