Chick talks bird banding during Rocky Point Bird Observatory Society special presentation

Jannaca Chick gives a special presentation about her time in Israel and Greece during the society’s annual general meeting on March 11. A member of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory Society since 2012, Chick participated in research efforts and bird banding when she spent four weeks traveling to Israel and Greece in March and April last year.

She originally went to Israel to meet friends and to attend an international conference on bird observatories where she opted to also travel to Greece for a bird banding opportunity. After her time in Israel, Chick travelled to Antikythera Island in Greece. The island, according to Chick, has a population of 25 and hosts a vast and large number of birds mostly migrating from Africa.

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“The island was dripping with birds,” Chick says. During her two weeks in Greece, she had the opportunity to see and band birds that she had never seen before. Chick is licensed in bird banding for song birds and owls, but bird migration hasn’t always been an interest for her.

Chick says she did not have an interest in birds until she was older. After attending an open house for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory Society she became interested and began to attend meetings. She says it has created a great opportunity to continually learn, meet new people and travel.

Bird banding is a process that involves catching birds to determine the sex, age and health condition. The research collected during the society’s banding efforts is sent to the US Geological survey and the Canadian Wildlife Service, according the Kim Beardmore, society president.

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By banding birds, data on species and migration trends can be collected and compiled into better research toward conservation efforts. Chick says that the data collected is much more efficient and precise than what could be collected in the field.

“We do not know everything about birds and there is still a lot to learn,” Chick says.

The society has been banding birds for the last 25 years at Rocky Point Bird Observatory and the Pedder Bay Marina. Chick says the society wants to promote their efforts to the public and share why their work is so important.

The AGM is open to the public and will start at 7 p.m. located at Rogers Society, 765 Rogers Ave., Victoria.

sarah.schuchard@saanichnews.com