This article brought to you by Prime Properties, The Real Estate Place
Article by Christina Hernandez
Photos and video by Sergey Astakhov
Senior Biologist and founder of Mountainview Biological Consulting Rheanna Niedinger has been conducting a series of bird banding projects throughout Skypark. On July 14th, 2019, the Mountain Reporter got an inside look at the new MAPS project.
MAPS stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship. Through MAPS, scientists and researchers worldwide can collect and share data with each other about avian research. MAPS has stations all across American and Canada. This program helps scientists research populations of birds, fluctuations, survival, reproduction and regions in which the birds travel and live. This is important, because it can help scientists and researchers see if these species are being affected by any elements such as climate change.
During MAPS, biologists and volunteers are netting and banding birds. Netting is a program in which standardized nets are set up a half a mile apart and then checked every thirty minutes to see if any birds are in the nets. The birds are then collected and taken to be banded. The biologists record pertinent data about the birds, then they are released. This project is safe and humane for both the birds and the individuals involved, and is held only once every 10 days for a short period of time. Netting will be closed and cancelled if the temperatures are too hot or cold for the birds, and only 9 nets are set up if there are enough staff on duty to participate in netting. When they are short staffed, they will use fewer nets.
The biologists and the volunteers will then split up and check on all the different nets to ensure there are no birds left in the nets for long periods of time. In addition, Mountainview Biological Consulting is humanly plucking feathers on birds for the USLA feather program. Through this program USLA can gather these feathers and determine where the bird is coming from and where they are migrating too, as well as determining their genetic markers. Furthermore, Mountainview Biological Consulting has an amazing volunteer opportunity for local high school students on the mountain. Through the volunteer program at Mountainview Biological Consulting, high schoolers can get hands on experience through the MAPS program. This is great for students who are interested in a career in biology, because they are able to go out experience and observe science in action. This volunteer program is new and Mountainview Biological Consulting is hoping to continue to partner with the schools next year to give students a remarkable and educational hands on experience. The MAPS program is permitted to run for five years, but Mountainview Biological Consulting is hoping to extend this to ten. The overall goal of the program is to turn a section of Skypark into a bird observatory for researchers and visitors alike to enjoy bird watching and learning about our beautiful feathery friends!