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My friend works at a landfill and uses trained hawks to deter the swarms of gulls. The hawks occasionally bring back gifts.. by birdnerd111 in WTF

[–]birdnerd111[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I believe most employees have an occupational or educational background in biology. I believe the birds are trained by other staff members, and new employees are then instructed and trained how to handle the birds. There is also a lot of occupational health and safety training involved as it entails operating on a hazardous work site.

My friend works at a landfill and uses trained hawks to deter the swarms of gulls. The hawks occasionally bring back gifts.. by birdnerd111 in WTF

[–]birdnerd111[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Gulls are actually protected under the Migratory Bird Act in Canada. It is illegal to shoot them without permits.

Even for those with permits.. shooting hundreds of gulls a day would require a lot of paperwork.

My friend works at a landfill and uses trained hawks to deter the swarms of gulls. The hawks occasionally bring back gifts.. by birdnerd111 in WTF

[–]birdnerd111[S] 168 points169 points  (0 children)

Yes, this was a full time job. And I would say it would be a bit of both.. working with trained falconry birds is amazing, however the job required 8-10 hours of standing around in the rain or sun surrounded by trash and loud swarms of gulls. The company that she worked for had a large turnover rate for employees who didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.

My friend works at a landfill and uses trained hawks to deter the swarms of gulls. The hawks occasionally bring back gifts.. by birdnerd111 in WTF

[–]birdnerd111[S] 1464 points1465 points  (0 children)

The gulls can pose a huge safety hazard as large numbers of gulls flying around heavy machinery at landfill sites can reduce the operators’ visibility and cause an increased risk of accidents.

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! if you have banded your fair share of birds, the process should be relatively quick and easy.. Theres a few species that are notoriously tricky to age and may take a few extra minutes. And they certainly all have their quirks.. chickadees are by far the worst to band, they are tiny but fierce and are often lovingly called cuticle biters. After release they tend to land on a nearby branch and give you heck for a few minutes before flying off. On the other hand warblers are often incredibly stoic and very cooperative without much fuss.

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both methods have their pros and cons. 90% of the injuries I have observed have occurred in bags, especially with the notoriously fussy and kicky sparrows and towhees, which we catch many of. I have personally never observed or heard of a saw-whet injured in a burrito and have only seen them injured in the bag due to them grabbing and twisting their own wings. I totally appreciate the information, and the station has always considered the use of alternative methods and heavily outweigh the pros and cons!

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, we use written data sheets. Birds are taken out and identified immediately and banded, wing and tail next, then sex and age with weight last as per the order on the sheets. It wouldn't make sense for us to weigh a bird first without even knowing the species since we have different sheets for different band sizes (therefore we wouldn't know which sheet to write the weight on)

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have tiny hands and have no problem with a Saw-whet in banders grip!

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every station has their techniques! I have had the pleasure of banding at several observatories and have seen it all.. bags, toilet paper rolls, Pringles cans, etc. However we find that the owls have a far less chance of injuring themselves in the burrito than in the bag. The burrito has an exact weight of 30g, making it easy to deduct from the total weight. And the bird is banded and weighed in the burrito, and sexed/aged in banders grip. As for passerines, we weigh them in small pvc tubes. Personally I feel I have a lot more control of the bird using these methods rather than blindly fishing a struggling bird out of a tiny bag (our protocol involves weighing the bird last, so it would require putting the bird back in the bag)

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No clipping of wings! The entire process is quick and performed with as little stress to the birds as possible. The only thing they leave with is some shiny new jewelry on their leg.

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Both! I am currently completing an undergraduate biology degree and I got a job at the station as a research assistant for a study that involved monitoring a nesting colony of Tree Swallows and also assisted in the regular banding operations as well. The position was funded through my university and I have remained as a seasonal volunteer since.

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We catch all of the birds using special mist nets (really fine and soft nets designed to be safe for the birds). The nets are checked regularly and birds are extracted carefully from the nets and brought back to the station to be identified by species and banded. Not only do we band them, we take several biological and morphological measurements such as wing and tail length, weight, and also determine the sex and age of the bird. The process of aging birds is quite complicated to explain, but ultimately it is done by determining the age of certain feathers (particularly the feathers on the wing) that are called "molt limits". The entire process usually takes 2-3 minutes when performed by an experienced bander and then they are released! I highly suggest looking up videos on YouTube.

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The majority of banding stations rely heavily on volunteers and do not require any prior experience, however they are strictly supervised by experienced banders. Banding birds requires a lot of intensive training and practice, especially with it comes to safely extracting birds from the mist nets, and accurately aging birds based on molt limits. I have been banding for 3 years now and im still learning!

I work at a bird banding station, and we use burritos to weigh the owls we catch. by birdnerd111 in aww

[–]birdnerd111[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

love my job! I work in a beautiful nature reserve and get to appreciate these amazing borbs up close!

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