Caribbean Bird Banding Workshop
A training organized by BirdsCaribbean in collaboration with Gaea Conservation Network and the Grenada Fund for Conservation was held in Grenada from 7th to 11th March. This workshop was the third annual Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) training workshop with the first held in March 2022 on the Bahamas and the second in March 2023 in the Dominican Republic.
Participants had to apply and selected from all applications sent in. The Ministry of Agriculture is proud and pleased that Mrs. Camellia Wallace Tongo, Forestry Assistant was one of the selected to receive a Need and Merit-based scholarship offered by BirdsCaribbean.
The purposes of the workshop were:
- To provide participants with a basic understanding of bird banding techniques and best practices
- To discuss what it takes to set-up and run a bird banding station
- To prepare participants for additional bird banding training opportunities, resources and community available through the CBB Network
Bird banding also referred to as bird ringing is a method used to keep track and identify individual birds. This is done either by attaching numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird. This assists scientists on the life history and movements of a bird.
Other training sessions included
- Proper set-up and placement of mist-net
- Extracting birds from mist-nets using the body-grasp technique
- Starting a banding station
- Bird first-aid and safety
- Bird banding ethics and basics
- Using bird banding for education and public demonstration
- Aging birds using WRP and Howell-Pyle terminology
- Molt patterns
This training was a triple segment exercise that included virtual, classroom and field experiences. There were fifteen participants at this workshop from Antigua, Argentina, Grand Cayman, Cuba, Grenada, Hispaniola, New Mexico, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and Trinidad.
“The workshop was one with lots of information and hands-on exercises. I am truly honoured to be one of the fifteen selected from over seventy-five applicants. Antigua and Barbuda was represented by an EAG representative and I. However, Trinidad and Tobago had the most participants” Wallace-Tonge said.