Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory
Foreman’s Branch in early fall.
Visit
Please contact us regarding visits, volunteer and internship opportunities. Group demonstrations are given with prior arrangement. We welcome your bird club, scout group or family to learn more about what we do.
Please contact JoAnn Fairchild Wood with any inquiries in regards to visits at 410-778-7295 or jfairchild2@washcoll.edu.
Originally founded under the name Chino Farms Banding Station, Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory has been in operation at its current location since 1998. Our emphasis is on migratory banding, with a spring season that runs from March through May and a fall season spanning the months of August through November. Additionally, we band once a week during the winter months and despite not banding in the summer, we probably capture most of the locally breeding birds on either end of our migration banding.
We are the only major migratory bird banding station operating on the eastern shore of Maryland. Located on the upper eastern shore 3 miles northeast of Chestertown, MD, we are in a rural area. The habitats at the station include fallow fields, hedgerows, early successional shrub/scrub, second-growth woodlands, mature wood lots and the open water and mud flats of Foreman’s Branch.
What’s in a name? FBBO took its name from the local branch of water that runs into the Chester River. Foreman’s Branch flows parallel to the banding area and its source is located approximately 5 miles to the south. Its waters provide refuge to thousands of migrating and wintering ducks and geese and important stopover habitat for shorebirds as well as a breeding area for Wood Ducks.
Click the headings below to learn more about the work done at CRFRC.
Annual Reports
The FBBO annual reports provide an in-depth accounting of the year's birds. They include numbers of new birds banded, returns, recoveries and summaries of other ongoing projects at FBBO. Select the following links to read pdf versions of annual reports for years 2004 onward. FBBO changed its name from Chino Farms Banding Station in 2005.
Research
Long term migratory bird monitoring – Our primary research focuses on monitoring seasonal movements of migratory birds which move between their breeding and wintering areas twice a year. By placing uniquely numbered aluminum bands on birds we are able to monitor population levels and document migratory pathways. We also monitor productivity of local breeding birds through our banding efforts. Data from the spring and fall monitoring programs has been used to chart the timing of migration of many species of songbirds moving through the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
We conduct numerous research projects in addition to our monitoring effort. Here are brief descriptions of some:
- Sexing Common Yellow-throats prior to their pre-formative molt: Juvenile Common Yellowthroats can be sexed as male if they have black feathers on their heads (females have no black). However, the absence of black feathers does not indicate a female bird, it could be a young male that has not yet molted in the black feathers. We are attempting to use brightness of the yellow in the throat and upper breast to sex birds without black feathers. We note which sex we think the bird is and then can check our accuracy when the birds are recaptured either later in the season or in a subsequent season. Should clear differences between the sexes be reliable, our methods could be used by other banders.
- Wing lengths of Orchard Orioles: Wing lengths can be extremely useful in determining sex of monomorphic young birds prior to molt. The currently published guidelines to sex hatch-year Orchard Orioles do not seem consistent with the birds we are capturing. We are reviewing the wing lengths of known sex birds in an attempt to update the current criteria.
- Sexing HY Barn Swallows: Is tail length and the amount of white in the tail of hatch-year Barn Swallows indicative of sex? We are taking several measurements and waiting to recapture enough returning birds to analyze our data.
- Woodpecker molts: Scoring molt on new and recaptured Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. We have molt data on birds from their first year of life to over seven years old. Discernible molt patterns in known age birds may improve current ageing criteria.
- Tracking Lyme disease through ticks: We are collecting ticks from birds and sending them to Dr. Maria Diuk-Wasser of Yale University. She is attempting to document the dispersal of ticks by birds and how those movements could also be spreading the pathogen which causes Lyme disease. We have collected many ticks of 8 different species and so far several have tested positive for the Lyme disease vector. To learn more about Dr. Diuk-Wasser's work click here: Do birds effect Lyme disease risk? Range expansion of the vector-borne pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi (PDF).
- Avian Flu Sampling: Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Ohio State University investigated the possibility of avian flu occurring in wild birds. We contributed to the study by taking cloacal swabs from approximately 550 birds of over 31 species. No viruses of concern were found in any of the samples from FBBO.
- Osprey Banding: Through the efforts of long-term volunteer Bill Snyder, we've banded over 80 young Ospreys. During June and July we monitor and band all Osprey chicks from their nests on the farm. Despite having banded so few, we have had two recoveries. A nestling from FBBO banded in July 2002 was found shot in Trinidad in November of the same year. Trinidad is approximately 2100 miles from FBBO. A nestling banded in July of 2008 was found dead in Ecuador in November 2008. Ecuador is approximately 2700 miles from FBBO.
- Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding: In cooperation with Project Owlnet, FBBO conducts fall Northern Saw-whet Owl banding. We run nets for about four weeks playing a standardized audio lure to attract these owls on their southbound migration.
- Eastern Bluebird Box Trail: We monitor over 100 nest boxes during the breeding season. We keep track of various aspects of breeding phenology such as nest building, egg laying, hatching and fledging. While we hope to attract bluebirds to our boxes, we also have Tree Swallows, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, House Wrens and Great-crested Flycatchers nesting in them.
