By Logan McHenry
Lamp writer
SPRINGFIELD—As the weather is finally starting to feel like spring, it’s a great time for another bird banding season.
The spring banding season started on Monday, March 20, and will continue running until the middle or end of May. The bird banding station can be found on the northeast side of campus behind the batting cages near the baseball and softball fields.
This spring marks the 10th season that the Lincoln Land Bird Banding Station has been in operation. The biannual research program first opened in the fall of 2012. The building, which was constructed by Lincoln Land Community College construction trade students in the fall of 2015, has made the banding of birds more efficient with the storage of useful items like tools, field guides, the Polaris (or bird-mobile), etc.
Before the building was constructed, all bird banding took place outside and was canceled during inclement weather. Now, birds can be banded inside on cold or slightly rainy days during the fall and spring banding seasons.
“Before fall of 2015, our banding station was a picnic bench,” stated Vern Kleen, retired ornithologist and president of the Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders. All the volunteers would agree that they are grateful for the addition of the building.
The bird banding station gives students a scientific experience outside of the classrooms on campus. The hands-on experience allows students to hold the birds and appreciate the importance of what is being done at the station.
The birds are caught primarily with mist nets, as well as other methods of traps, that are scattered throughout the north side of the campus property. Every 35 to 45 minutes, the nets are checked so that the birds are not trapped for very long.
Stevie Emmons, a former LLCC student, went to Kleen and Biology Professor Tony Rothering’s banding station at the Adams Wildlife Sanctuary before they eventually moved to LLCC’s campus. Emmons, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Illinois State University, still volunteers at the station to this day whenever her time allows.
Emmons comments on the thrill and excitement of being out at the station by saying: “There’s always a giddiness about net-check times. What will we catch? Will we get a new species? It’s basically a birdy Christmas morning every 30 minutes!”
The research being done at the bird banding station consists of studying bird populations and migration patterns and how they relate to the ecological world outside of the campus grounds. They track the populations that live in or visit these habitats during the spring and fall migratory seasons. They record gender, age (if applicable), wing chord, and the date it was caught. They also examine the brood patch for the amount a of fat a bird has on migratory species.
Sometimes, the same bird gets caught again, in which we label it as a repeat or return. Sometimes, the volunteers get the same bird twice in one day, a couple days a part or a couple seasons or years apart. Birds banded at Lincoln Land are sometimes caught by other people at other stations throughout the country. Comparisons are done with past seasons at LLCC’s station and with other stations in the state and the country. They attempt to see if patterns are similar or different in other regions.
When I first started volunteering at the bird banding station, Kleen always told me how Lincoln Land had the only long-term banding station on any college campus in Illinois. This comment helped me realize how special the bird banding station is and how grateful I am to be given this opportunity that many biology students aren’t given. I couldn’t pass the opportunity up.
I, along with many other students, found our way out to the bird banding station while being enrolled in one of Rothering’s classes. He always gives students the opportunity to come visit the station whenever their free time allows. He, along with other biology professors, like to bring their classes out so they get to experience the station at least once.
“I quickly got addicted, and have ended up back at the station every season, even though I have since graduated,” Emmons said. “I first went for course credit, but quickly fell in love with the ability to hold these little creatures in hand and see up close all the little details that field guides talk about.”
Emmons has even banded some birds herself under Kleen’s guidance.
He comments how the bird banding station has shaped her everyday life: “After my first day at the banding station, I went out and bought a field guide. I started really looking at birds and identifying them, rather than just seeing small, brown blurs.”
Emmons has now found herself focusing primarily on birds over other animals, which, she has wanted to study since she was a kid.
She mentions how her life has played out since her time at LLCC: “I took an Ornithology course at my university (Illinois State University). Now, I work at the World Bird Sanctuary, training, handling, rehabilitating and caring for birds of prey. My future goals are to get my graduate degree in wildlife biology or avian ecology. I’m not sure where my career will end up, but I do know that my future will involve working with birds. I have the bird banding station, LLCC, and its staff to thank for that.”
Kleen, who has banded over 100,000 birds in his lifetime, has been banding birds for over 50 years. His 100,000th bird was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Kleen bands many hummingbirds throughout the summer while they are in the area. Once the winter season hits, they travel down to Central and South America. Kleen has even caught a hummingbird that he banded nine years prior. This proves how the hummingbirds travel such a long distance and come back to the exact same place to nest.
I always wondered why Kleen, an extremely successful ornithologist, would choose a place like Lincoln Land Community College, as opposed to a wildlife sanctuary, to house a bird banding station.
“We looked at other areas in the Springfield area like Lincoln Memorial Gardens and Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary. We chose LLCC because of the various habitats it supports and so students could be involved,” noted Kleen. “It helped that my friend and banding partner, Tony Rothering, was employed at the college.”
Rothering has a sub permit under Kleen’s permit from the United States Geological Survey, allowing him to band birds even when Kleen is unavailable. Rothering hosts a MAPS banding project during the summer just a couple miles away from LLCC’s campus.
Rothering loves getting his students to come out to the bird banding station. One former student, Tyler Beckerman, was a volunteer at the station before heading to the University of Missouri to pursue his degree in wildlife and resource management.
“I already had a huge interest in wildlife so I thought the banding station would be a great place to gain more experience and network with professionals,” stated Beckerman.
Beckerman performed and individualized study out at the banding station. He tested bird densities and species richness at two different locations. One location had a presence of Japanese Honeysuckle and the other location had the invasive plant removed. His goal was to see if the invasive plant had an effect on bird species composition.
A current student, Jared Gorrell, has been attending the banding station for a couple years and has been influenced into bird banding as his main hobby. He loves going to the bird banding station to see what species have been caught and are currently in the area.
“One of my favorite experiences was back in the fall of 2014 when we caught an Ash-throated Flycatcher,” said Gorrell. “It’s the only one the station has ever caught.”
You never know what birds you will find when you go to the station. You can guess, but you are never positive on which ones will get caught.
As of Monday, April 17, 40 different species and a total of 456 birds have been banded for the 2017 spring season. The station, since the beginning of its operation, has banded over 15,000 birds.
Students are still encouraged to attend the hands-on experience provided by the bird banding station and its staff. You may be able to release a bird and see it fly from your hands and back into its habitat.
Logan McHenry can be reached at [email protected].
