9 days, 527 birds, 55 species

On a map of the United States, you can barely see the thin strip of land that is Fort Morgan, Ala. But the narrow peninsula – about twenty miles long and less than half a mile wide in places – is enormously important. for migratory birds: it is the last land stop before they fly south over the Gulf of Mexico.

Recently the Banding Coalition of America spent nine days in the dense vegetation of Fort Morgan, carefully capturing birds in mist nets, fitting them with small leg bands, and releasing them back into the world to make their long journey across the water.

By the end of the event, BCA co-founders Emma Rhodes and Kyle Shepard, along with a crew of about ten other trained and federally recognized volunteers, had captured and banded 527 birds from 55 different species.

Seeing the birds up close and holding them in your hand can be transformative, says Ms. Rhodes, 28, an avian biologist and Ph.D. student at Auburn University. “It can really change people’s lives and give them new perspectives on why birds are important, why this habitat is important, why this habitat shouldn’t just be apartments,” she said.

Ms. Rhodes and Mr. Shepard were trained in bird banding as youngsters in Fort Morgan, when their mentors, Bob and Martha Sargent, led a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and conservation of hummingbirds and other neotropical migrants . The Sargents have since passed away, and in 2020, Ms. Rhodes and Mr. Shepard founded BCA as a way to continue the work.

Mr. Shepard, 30, started banding in Fort Morgan when he was 12 years old. If people are interested in volunteering, he said, “My first question is, how much time should you commit? Because it will be for the rest of your life; the training is never over.”

Still, Ms. Rhodes added, offering people the opportunity to volunteer was important to both of them. “We had the benefit and privilege of being able to train at a very young age and we really felt like it changed our direction and trajectory in life for the better,” Ms Rhodes said.

The data collected by BCA is reported to the Bird Banding Laboratorya program of the United States Geological Survey which, in partnership with the Canadian Bird Banding Office, administers the North American Bird Banding Program.

Birds obviously know no boundaries. BCA’s caught-and-released species only make a pit stop in Alabama. “A lot of times we’ll say, oh, North American species, but actually they’re not North American species,” Ms. Rhodes said. “They are all over America and we share them.”

The team often finds some surprises in the nets. “This year we banned a western tanager that shouldn’t have been there,” Ms. Rhodes said with a laugh; The bird’s typical habitat is further west. She added, “We also banded two western woodpeckers” – again, not an eastern species.

The data collected by the BCA will help scientists find larger trends. “We may be seeing more western birds every year and that is something that needs to be documented,” Ms Rhodes said.

Ultimately, she added, one of the organization’s goals is to share and exchange data with other regions: “Especially with people in the tropics, because you need to understand the full annual cycle to conserve birds,” she said . “You can’t just study them in the winter.”

Ms Rhodes said she also just enjoyed seeing birds up close, even species that are common. One of her favorites is the male American redstart, nicknamed the Halloween bird because of its black and orange feathers. She associates it with Fort Morgan, especially in the fall. “We put a lot of it together,” she said. They are important to the ecosystem and to the work she has dedicated her life to, she said. But also: “They are just beautiful birds.”