Every spring and fall dsb1 students migrate to the marsh to have a chance to see how we do research and to see the true marvel of the migration. This autumn the Canada goose and sandhill migration has been a spectacle to the delights of grade four and seven and various high school classes. Students have been helping out with our bird banding efforts by transporting birds from the nets to the banding lab to have their specific numbered band put on their leg giving us a chance to monitor the migration. We are very fortunate to have the support of DSB1 director Linda Knight who has been a champion of getting students out to the marsh over the years.
One of the things I love about banding with the kids in the fall is that they love the chance to band blue jays. We could have one of the rarest warblers or a seldom seen boreal chickadee but a blue jay wins the day in the hearts and minds of the students. We have been having dsb1 students come to the marsh to band birds since 1996 next year we will be celebrating our 20th year of banding at the marsh and we hope to perhaps band our 60,000 bird. Celebrate is a good word for it, and the purpose of this blog is to draw attention to a partnership worth celebrating. The ultimate winners are the kids that get to enjoy a day at the marsh, one can never fully comprehend the impact that a bird in the hand can have. In the words of Rachel Carson famous conservationist "If a child is to keep ones inborn sense of wonder, they need the companionship of at least one adult who can share it. Rediscovering with them the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." Bird is the word! murph
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