Eastern Bird Banding Association Meeting at Powdermill

Eastern Bird Banding Association
80th Annual Conference
4-6 April 2003
Powdermill Nature Reserve

The very successful 80th annual Eastern Bird Banding Association conference was co-hosted by Carnegie Museum’s Powdermill Nature Reserve, where some 90 registrants attended hands-on workshops, scientific paper sessions, and banding demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday, 5-6 April. On the Friday evening beforehand, the group was enthralled with the slide lecture presentation (and displayed carvings) by Larry Barth, the only nine time World Champion in Decorative Lifesize Division at the prestigious Ward Foundation Wildfowl Carving Competition in Ocean City, Maryland.

On Saturday morning, in keeping with the meeting's theme, "Expanding the World of Banding," Dr. Lukas Jenni, Scientific Director of the Swiss Ornithological Institute, with help from Professor David Norman, an accomplished amateur ringer from Great Britain, conducted a workshop at Powdermill in which he described and demonstrated various protocols associated with the European Science Foundation sponsored Scientific Network on Songbird Migration. This and a concurrent workshop by Bob Mulvihill on the use of molt limits for ageing North American birds, had to be held indoors at the Powdermill banding station because of rain.

Dr. Jenni (at left center) conducts workshop at Powdermill during the 80th Annual EBBA meeting

Bob Mulvihill discusses molt limits with the EBBA group and points out a molt limit among the tertials of an SY Dark-eyed Junco

Bob Mulvihill, Lukas Jenni and others examining molt patterns of an Eastern Phoebe

Following the early morning workshops on Saturday, a series of twelve excellent papers was presented to a filled auditorium at the Florence Lockhart Nimick Nature Center. Topics ranged from a project by Mike Lanzone, Bob Mulvihill, and Jerry Ligouri to develop of a photographic guide to ageing North American birds (draft sample page pictured below), to Jim Sheehan's nesting ecology of Acadian Flycatchers, Scott Rush's post-fledging ecology of Hooded Warblers, and Prof. David Norman's results of expeditions to learn more about the distribution and occurrence of British birds in Senegal in winter. Click here to read abstracts of many of the presented papers.

Weather improved greatly on Sunday morning, enabling the EBBA group to attend various field trips, one of which involved not traveling, but rather staying right at Powdermill to see the banding station in full operation. The weather and the birds cooperated, providing everyone with the chance to see a variety of birds.

Dr. Lukas Jenni admiring a Northern Cardinal, even though it had no molt limits!

Visiting British ringer, David Norman (left), with Bird Banding Lab biologist, Mary Gustafson, examining wing molt limits on an Eastern Phoebe.

The meeting ended on Sunday afternoon, after a very productive two-hour roundtable discussion on the theme: Toward More Scientific Banding--the value of collaboration, the need for accurate data, and the importance of publishing. Notes from this interesting session will be compiled and published in the near future.

Powdermill banders Bob Mulvihill and Bob Leberman wish to thank all of those who made the 80th annual EBBA meeting at Powdermill possible and very successful--the organizers, volunteers, participants, and presenters.