CRAWFORD COUNTY -- These early days in May, as we make our way to and from work, often in the rain and planning where to park or focused on the first tasks of the day, most of us are unaware that all around us an incredible migration is taking place. Hundreds of millions of birds of all sizes and species are on the move from winter sites near the equator to potential mates and spring nests across North America. It is the heartbeat of an ecosystem that long precedes even the earliest native inhabitants of this land.
There are some people who are paying attention, however.
Recently a group of Pittsburg State University students spent a Saturday morning at the Monahan Outdoor Education Center near Cherokee, netting, identifying, and banding birds in reclaimed mined lands that are now prairies and woodlands. They were under the direction of Associate Professor Andrew George, a member of the faculty in PSU’s Department of Biology.
On this day, the students were joined by members of the Sperry-Galligar Audubon Society, who share the students’ passion for birds.
George is a federally permitted bird bander and he has been training the students to work with birds and bats.
“This process is something that takes extensive training,” George said. “You have to be mentored by other people who have done this. I banded my first bird almost 20 years ago, when I was in college.”
George said the data the students collect is reported to a national banding lab, but it is also used for local research.
“One of our projects, we’re looking at mined lands,” George said. “How do birds use mined lands throughout the year? A very different group of birds uses mined lands in southeast Kansas in the winter versus the summertime. We want to see who’s coming through, how long are they staying, are they benefiting from the habitat here. That’s part of it. We have some other related projects as well.”
George said that although a number of universities have field biology programs, Pittsburg State’s differs because of its emphasis on hands-on learning.
“Our program at Pitt State is all about experiential learning,” George said. “This is part of our field biology program and we get students out in the field. You learn it by doing, hands-on. This is not the kind of thing you can learn in the classroom very easily.”
That suits students like Braidy Hunt, from Grant City, Mo., and Heather Burrow, from Wichita, quite well. Both seniors are Wildlife Ecology majors and both have jobs waiting for them when they graduate. Hunt is going to work for the Missouri Department of Conservation where she will be doing bat surveys across the state. Burrow will work as a field biologist and ecologist for ECT Inc., a consulting agency in Wichita.
Burrow said she has always loved birds and is especially fond of raptors. She pulls up her sleeve to reveal a tattoo.
“She’s an American Kestrel,” Burrow said of the elegant bird on her shoulder. I love owls, and Swainson’s hawks. I grew up working with them along with snakes and lizards. And then I came here and got this awesome opportunity.”
Hunt said she grew up on a farm in northwest Missouri, so she has always loved the outdoors. She came to PSU as a sophomore.
“I had no idea what I was going to do until I came to Pitt and started working with my professors,” Hunt said. “I met Dr. George. He got me involved with bird banding and bat banding. It’s what kind of guided me, honestly.”
Now Hunt is looking forward to her work with bats.
“We’ll be looking for species of concern that are threatened or endangered and trying to do some radio telemetry, so like tracking them” Hunt said. “That way we can try to find their roosts and get population counts and understand how their populations are doing in the state.”
As they worked to record information about the birds they had collected from the property that day, both Hunt and Burrow answered questions from the visitors and eagerly shared their passion for their study.
“I love birds and I love my bats and I want everybody else to like them, too,” Hunt said. “Everybody should know the fun information that I know!”
In just a short time, last Saturday, the students found many Swainson’s Thrushes, Cow Birds, Cat Birds, a Cardinal and a Blue Bunting. Some are natives who will spend their summers in the quiet of the preserve. Others still have many miles to cover before they rest.
George said the spring migration doesn’t last long and is generally at its peak in the first week or two of May.
Soon, after the visitors have moved along, the local birds will have the prairies and woods of southeast Kansas to themselves and the neighborhood may seem a little quieter. But, in several months, when the first frosts coat the northern fields, the whole process will reverse and millions of birds will head south once more, perhaps stopping for a brief rest in our fields and woods before continuing on toward the equator.
