BIRDS, DATA, AND TACO DINNERS: SFBBO Research Represented at Western Bird Banding Conference

By Guest Blogger Wendy Gibbons

The joys of sharing scientific research, bird banding, and gathering over taco dinners proved irresistible to adventurers in the world of avian conservation science, including SFBBO senior landbird biologist Dan Wenny, research affiliate Julian Tattoni, and volunteer Wendy Gibbons, this May. Wenny, Tattoni and Gibbons experienced this winning combination during the 2023 meeting of the Western Bird Banding Association (WBBA) meeting outside of Santa Clarita, California. The WBBA is a scientific organization that encourages and promotes bird banding as a tool to study the biology and migration of western birds. 

The three made the trip south from the Bay Area to join over 40 other bird banders from the western United States and Canada, including Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Idaho. Tattoni presented the results of their research study on the timing of bird molt...​​

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for 11 bird species at SFBBO’s Coyote Creek Field Station. Tattoni’s study, which they collaborated on with SFBBO science director Katie LaBarbera and Stanford biologist J. Nicholas Hendershot, showed that some bird species, including Bushtits, Song Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, appear to adjust the timing of when they replace their worn-out feathers each year if hot, dry conditions unfavorable to raising a family occur. Such conditions are predicted to be more frequent under climate change. ​

If you would like to learn more, please click on the following photos.

A highlight of the trip was a visit to the Bear Divide Banding Station, which opened in 2021 to research the spectacular dawn flights of thousands of migrating birds funneling through a narrow pass in the San Gabriel Mountains. Gibbons, Tattoni, and Wenny were able to witness over a thousand Vaux’s swifts, several hundred Hermit warblers, Townsend’s warblers, Lazuli Buntings, and Western Tanagers as well as numerous other species making their way north to their breeding grounds.

Presentations included research on antbird recruitment in mixed-species flocks in French Guiana, the development of 3-dimensional virtual bird specimens at Occidental College, and the ‘secret lives’ of Herring and Greater Black-backed gulls on Appledore Island, Maine. The increased use and development of MOTUS radio towers, which SFBBO has recently pioneered in the Bay Area to track bird migrants, was also explored in depth at the meeting. Next year’s conference is already being discussed, and with luck SFBBO’s research on bird population health and migration will once again be shared with the broader scientific community to help build and strengthen collaborative efforts in bird conservation science.

If you would like to learn more, please click on the following photos.

If you would like to learn more about Bear Divide, please check out these articles on the LA Times: 
SoCal's secret birding spot where you can watch 130 species fly through
This dirt parking lot in the San Gabriel Mountains is a magnet for migrating birds 

Wendy Gibbons works as a science writer and educator when she is taking a break from her valued pastimes banding birds, studying data science, and causing good trouble.