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Bird Banding Postcard #2:
Nets Up »

Bird Banding Station at Red Canyon Ranch
 

Bird Banding Photos

Red Canyon Ranch
Red Canyon Ranch
© Ted Wood

Volunteers at work

Volunteers at work
© Kerry Brophy Lloyd/TNC

Next Bird Banding Postcard:
Nets Up »

By Kerry Brophy Lloyd
Communications Coordinator
The Nature Conservancy of Wyoming

4:10 am: An Early Start

We gather in a dark parking lot, steam from our coffee cups spilling into the raw morning air. Still sleepy, we shuffle into our cars. We’re off to band birds.

Since early June, it’s the third time this group of devoted volunteers has gathered in the early morning. Their destination is The Nature Conservancy’s Red Canyon Ranch, a working cattle ranch southwest of Lander, Wyoming. Andrea Cerovski, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist, started the Red Canyon banding site more than a decade ago and continues to serve as its coordinator.

Tucked between red canyon walls and sloping foothills carpeted with wildflowers, the ranch is a place where nature holds sway—including the collection of neotropical migratory songbirds we have come to find.

Now in its 12th year, the bird banding station on Red Canyon Ranch has logged thousands of hours and valuable data. The unassuming crew of volunteers—who share nothing more in common than a keen interest in birds—is actually part of something extraordinary.

The station is one in a growing network of nearly 500 banding stations spread across 47 states. Known as “Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship” (MAPS), the project started in 1989 to record long-term banding data to track changes in songbird populations and migration patterns.

Next: Nets Up »

For More Information:

  • The Nature Conservancy of Wyoming
    The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 450,000 acres of critical ranchland and wildlife habitat in Wyoming.
  • Places We Protect: Red Canyon Ranch
    Red Canyon Ranch is a working cattle ranch where a wealth and diversity of plants and animals can be found.
  • How You Can Help: Donate Online
    You can help save the last great places in Wyoming. Donate now!