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province co Hi Lois, I may be able to shed some light on the use of feathers in scientific projects. Jeff may be able to confirm that his research will be using them in this way. The analysis of feathers for stable hydrogen isotopes is one tool for identifying the breeding origin of migrants. The ratio in rainfall of deuterium (so called 'heavy' hydrogen) to hydrogen, varies across North America in a fairly predictable, broad-scale, geographic pattern. Since all living things take in water, the growing season rainfall values of this deuterium:hydrogen ratio are reflected in the local food webs. This ratio is in turn translated through the diet of birds into the feathers grown by birds living in the area. This is true of juveniles growing their first set of feathers and by adults replacing existing feathers when moulting. Adult Snow Buntings will have replaced their flight feathers on the breeding grounds. So by analysing a flight feather, a general location of where the birds bred/hatched can be determined. From this many hypotheses can be tested. For example, are all the birds in a flock from the same location and is the wintering area only exploited by birds from one region or from many different breeding regions? All the best, Lance =========================== Lance Laviolette Glen Robertson, Ontario lance.laviolette@lmco.com =========================== P Before printing think about your responsibility & commitment to the Environment! P Merci de penser à l'environnement avant d'imprimer ce courriel! ________________________________ From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Lois Codling Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:22 PM To: Jeff MacLeod; Nature NS Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Snow Buntings Thanks, Jeff. I do understand that you cannot describe your project in detail until it is completed and published. And your description of the work you will be doing sounds interesting. I am very curious to know how sampling a wing feather can help you determine where the bird's breeding ground is, but perhaps that is one of the things you cannot yet communicate. A continued concern about Dr. Love's work, as described on his website, is about the research he is doing at the moment on the effects of "Maternal Stress" on offspring of wild birds. I would certainly like to know what this involves. Lois Codling Jeff MacLeod wrote: Hi Lois. I can tell you some about the work I'm hoping to do. First, I should say that I do have a permit allowing me to trap and band wild birds (and experience doing this), and that their welfare is of utmost importance throughout the banding process. During the banding process, the birds would be lured into ground traps using seed. Typically they would be in the traps for 15-30 minutes, feeding on the seed inside (unless there is some stressor present creating a need to remove the birds sooner). All birds are removed from the traps at once, and put into cloth bags so that they don't struggle and get further stressed. Birds are removed from the bags one at a time, several non-invasive measurements are taken (wing length, body condition, weight), age and sex is determined, and a small aluminum band with a unique number is put on their leg. The banding/measurement process takes less than one minute, and the birds are released as soon as it is over. This handling is stressful for the birds, of course, but this type of trapping is very safe for the birds and they are able to handle this degree of stress. Typically many birds end up back in the very same traps, some multiple times, and often in the same day, suggesting that they are willing to put up with the associated stress in order to get the food in the traps. Regarding the project, I'm not sure how detailed a description Dr. Love would be comfortable with me posting on the internet, given that this is his research that has not been described in any scientific forums yet. Broadly speaking, however, I can say that my banding efforts would be part of a long-term monitoring project to track the reproductive and wintering success of numerous populations of snow buntings. Metal banding of individuals is essential to i) avoid re-sampling of previously-caught individuals within each winter, and ii) to monitor changes in the condition of wintering individuals across the season and across populations. There has been some suggestion in the scientific literature that Snow Bunting numbers are declining quite significantly, and we would like to verify whether this is, indeed, the case. Part of this process, in the case of this project, also involves the removal of one wing feather from a number of birds (these feathers grow back). The feather will allow us to determine where the birds' breeding grounds are, and make a link between breeding a wintering grounds. The research ethics board at University of Windsor has review the project and approved it. I hope that I have addressed some of your concerns about the stress we will be putting these birds through. I am certainly sympathetic, and the welfare of the birds is quite important to me--both the individual birds that I am handling and the species as a whole. I am not doing this work as part of my schooling, and don't benefit financially in any way. I think that this work is important in protecting this species in the long term, as we need to understand their behavioral ecology and changes in numbers in order to determine how to protect them. Sincerely, Jeff MacLeod On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 10:22 PM, Lois Codling <loiscodling@hfx.eastlink.ca> wrote: Hi Jeff, Could you tell us something about the research you hope to do with Snow Buntings? If we were to help you find and trap these birds, what kind of stress (mentioned in the website you gave) do you intend to subject them to? Do you have a license to trap wild birds? I think most of us on this list-serve are concerned with the welfare of wild birds. Can you convince us that you are too? Lois Codling Jeff MacLeod wrote: Hello birders. I'm living in Halifax and hoping to band some Snow Buntings this winter. This banding effort would be part of a larger research project headed by Dr. Oliver Love at University of Windsor (http://web2.uwindsor.ca/biology/olove/Home.html). Currently I'm trying to track down a few flocks that I may be able to bait with seed and trap using ground traps. I've spent a day on the Tantramar Marsh looking for buntings, but found very few. I do have someone up there continuing to try to find/attract SNBUs, though. I was in Grand Pre this past weekend, and only found a small flock there (about 40 birds). If anyone knows of an area within several hours drive of Halifax that reliably has snow buntings, I would be very interested to