Wing of the week

I'll try to put a new spread wing photo up every week. To start things off here's a beautiful example from the kingfishers (family: Alcedinidae), the White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis). Here are photos of the top (top photo) and bottom sides (bottom photo) of the right wing from a specimen collected in the Philippines by former Cincinnati Museum Center curator Dr. Robert Kennedy. Enjoy!


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Bird banding

It's been a long time coming but I finally have my federal master bird bander permit. Bird banding, or "ringing" as it is known in Europe, involves placing some unique identifier on a bird's leg. People have been banding birds for about four centuries, most typically using metal bands and lengths of chord or string. Recapture of banded birds can provide valuable information about the life history and movements of birds. Along with collecting, bird banding was a central activity in the history of ornithology and it continues to be a major research tool in ornithology today.

Systematic and organized bird banding began in the United States about a century ago and today banding is regulated by the United States Geological Survey's Bird Banding Laboratory. Permission to band birds for individuals is obtained through a master bird banding permit. Application for the master banding permit is a lengthy process and applicants must demonstrate a legitimate scientific and/or educational reason to band birds. Bird banding can be focused on a particular species or done more generally to provide long term distribution and abundance data of local avifauna. Numerous anatomical measurements and other data are recorded for each bird to obtain, among other things, data on plumage and morphological variation, age structure and sex ratio. Once a scientific purpose has been established for a banding program an applicant's training and ability to identify, capture and handle birds is assessed. All applicants are required to provide references from master bander permit holders in order to assess the applicants credentials as a bird bander. Typically most master banding permit holders spent some time as a subpermitee under a master permit holder. If applicants request permission to capture birds with mist nets or collect blood samples additional authorization for these somewhat delicate and difficult practices is required. Currently there are about 2,000 master bander permit holders in the United States and most are from universities and governmental conservation and research agencies. Holding a master banding permit is therefore a great privilege and responsibility and for me an important part of my growth as an ornithologist.

The latest bird banding program at Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) began this past weekend at Cincinnati Country Day School (CCDS) with CCDS faculty member and CMC adjunct curator Francisco Borrero (see photo above of Francisco removing a bird from a mist net). We had two upper school students show up on a very cold Sunday morning to put up a mist net near a bird feeder on school grounds. So, what was the first bird to be caught under the auspices of my hard won USGS master banding permit? It was a male House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), band number 2291-69601 (see photo left). House sparrows are an abundant species in urban and suburban settings. They are not native to North America but instead introduced from Europe. The first bird recorded in my banding records is not the most exotic of species but a neat little bird none-the-less. Other birds banded on my first official outing as a master bander included blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the Eastern Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor, see photo below).


Students seemed to enjoy the chance to handle wild birds (see photo right) and were a big help on processing the birds and recording data. Hopefully bird banding on the campus of CCDS will attract more participation among the CCDS upper and middle school student body. Data gained through bird banding can serve as an excellent introduction to field-based science and we hope students will take full advantage of opportunities at CCDS and CMC and participate in bird banding and other field biology programs. Who knows? Maybe some of the students learning how to catch, measure and band birds in this program will themselves be holders of master banding permits someday?

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Darwin Day Celebration and Evolution Sunday

Next month marks the 199th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. Darwin (and coincidentally Abraham Lincoln) was born on February 12, 1809 and since 1994 universities, museums and other public institutions have marked the date with various events to commemorate the career of one of the greatest scientific minds in history. This day has been dubbed Darwin Day and is celebrated around the world with events that recognize Darwin's contributions to our understanding of the natural world. Lectures, museum exhibits, nature hikes, public discussion forums and other activities are planned this year at places like Case Western Reserve University, University of Pennsylvania Museum, The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, and The North Carolina Botanical Garden. Next year will be a major milestone marking the bicentennial of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species and major events are planned at museums, universities and research centers around the globe.

To coincide with Darwin Day a group of concerned Christian clergy started Evolution Sunday in 2006. Evolution Sunday grew out of an effort lead by Butler University dean Michael Zimmerman to bring together Christian clergy to combat the misrepresentation of both science and religious faith in the evolution/creationism debate. The result was the Clergy Letter Project, a statement affirming that there is no fundamental conflict between the science of evolution and the acceptance of the Christian faith. To date over 11,000 Christian leaders have signed on to the Clergy Letter Project including theologians from colleges, universities and seminaries the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana tri-state area, including Xavier University, Lexington Theological Seminary, Centre College and the Earlham School of Religion. During Evolution Sunday congregations around the country take the time to discuss what evolutionary biology means to their faith. This open dialog between science and religious faith is exactly what is needed in the evolution/creationism debate and the participation of the scientific community in these events is critical. As Darwin Day and Evolution Sunday approach I'll try to add more posts about Darwin, creationism and the impact of evolution on society at large.

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Another successful trip to Taiwan

We had a great time in Taiwan this year and now that I'm back and the holidays are over and it's a new year I can sit back and reflect and think about the next trip! To the right is the poster advertising Bailey and my talks. Really I can't thank the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, Director Tang and Ornithology Department Head Yao Cheng-te enough for their support during this trip. Also, Professor Lee Ya-fu and the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan hosted me for another talk in the Biology department and I thank them for that opportunity. In addition to seeing and photographing lots of great birds my colleagues and I built some really exciting plans for future collaborations. Taiwan is not only a fantastic place for the mountains, forests and birds but also because of the people. "Xie-xie nin" to all my colleagues in Taiwan who make my time there so enjoyable and productive.

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National Academy of Science and evolution

In the USA the most prominent and influential of scientific organizations is arguably the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The Academy began in 1863 and the original act of congress creating the Academy was signed by president Abraham Lincoln. The charter members included some of the greatest American scientists of the day including the Harvard geologist and zoologist Louis Agassiz. Membership in the NAS is by election and being voted a member of the Academy remains among the highest honors bestowed on an American scientist.

So, what does the single most prestigious, prominent and influential scientific organization in America have to say on the evolution/creationism debate? Today the NAS released a press statement showing unequivocal support for evolution and decidedly against any notion of creationism or intelligent design as a valid scientific endeavor. NAS president Ralph Cicerone said, "The study of evolution remains one of the most active, robust and useful fields in science". NAS published a new book, Science, Evolution and Creationism, for the general public, especially science educators, school boards and policy makers, dealing with the evolution/creationism debate (the pdf version is available online for free) and tomorrow there will be a live webcast on the topic of evolution/creationism. To quote the NAS book, "Biological evolution is the central organizing principle in modern biology". So if there was any question in one's mind as to the consensus on biological evolution look no further than the most prestigious scientific organization in America, the National Academy of Sciences.

see also news on this story at the ABC News.com Science and Society blog.

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