Another Great Meeting to Attend

In yesterday's post I listed some meetings that might be of interest to birders and completely forgot to mention the upcoming meeting of the IBBA (Inland Bird Banding Association). I'm embarrassed because last year I got to attend the meeting in Wisconsin and had a great time. I have included some photos from last year and below is the announcement for this year's meeting in Alabama. The timing for this year is just right for some good migrant banding.


Last year the IBBA held their annual meeting at Riveredge Nature Center near Port Washington, WI.


Banding demos were done both mornings of the meeting. This is Tim Vargo checking a bird for fat reserves.


It is always interesting to see how other banders set up their operations. Meetings like this are truly valuable for becoming better at what you do.


A bird in the hand....


Some of us got to visit the famous (to hawk banders anyway) Cedar Grove banding station. What a treasure to have a long term research site. The "canned" hawks were waiting to be processed.

Here is the official meeting announcement:
The 2008 Inland Bird Banding Association's annual meeting will be held at
the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) near Foley, Alabama
from 3-5 October 2008 to coincide with near peak migration. Saturday
morning, there will be a field trip to Fort Morgan State Historical Park to
visit the Hummer/Bird Study Group's migration banding station operated by
IBBA members Bob and Martha Sargent. In addition to a Saturday afternoon
paper session, there will be an in-house workshop focusing on mending nets
and band removal procedures among other things. Additionally, a
representative from the Bird Banding Lab will be conducting a workshop on
BANDIT. A detailed meeting agenda will be forthcoming.
Weeks Bay is an estuarine system located along the eastern shore of Mobile
Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama. In 1986, it was officially designated as the
nation's 16th NERR containing 6,525 acres of undeveloped coastal habitats
characterized by tidal salt marshes, aquatic grass beds, maritime and
palustrine upland forests, and a pitcher plant bog. The Reserve serves as a
natural representative of the greater Mobile Bay ecosystem possessing a high
diversity of flora and fauna. Its buffering emergent marshes protects water
quality by acting as a "natural" filter for pollutants and provides
shoreline stability, which in turn helps maintain a highly productive
"nursery" of economically important shellfish and finfish. Fort Morgan State
Historical Park is situated on the western terminus of Fort Morgan
peninsula. The 20 mile linear peninsula juts out into lower Mobile Bay and
acts like a funnel for migrants creating a classic "migrant trap" in spring
and fall. In addition to being an important stopover/staging area for
migrants, it also serves as a corridor for migrating raptors along the
northern Gulf coast. Depending on the weather conditions, Fort Morgan offers
some of the best birding and banding opportunity anywhere in North America.