Jekyll Island Bird Banding Station

During the Colonial Coast Birding and Nature Festival last week, which by the way I feel was a great success. I had the opportunity to visit the Jekyll Island Bird Banding Station. The Station is located at the South end of the island amidst the dunes. The Station has been in operation for thirty years and is run by Chris, Jan, and Charles. All the work they do is volunteer. They place rows a large nets up in the dunes and as the birds get caught in the nets they collect them and determine sex, birth year, body fat, body length, wing length and weight. Then they fit them with the appropriate band with an identification number on it. Then the bird is released. All this is done while putting minimum stress on the birds. These people truly have a love for what they do.
While I was there we saw some really nice birds. I got to release a female Painted Bunting and I heard the heat beat of a Western Palm Warbler. It was amazing.
Below are some pictures of the birds we saw.

Above from left to right: Female Painted Bunting, White Eyed Vireo and Yellow Breasted Chat. Below left to right: Western Palm Warbler and a Yellow Billed Cuckoo.

These are just a few of the birds we saw. We also saw a Male Cardinal, American Redstart, Gray Catbird and a Northern Water Thrush. I found this experience amazing. The information they gather helps identify migration patterns, breeding populations, health of the birds, and rise and or decline in species.