birdfotos.com
********************************************
SPARROW BANDING
Y2K
WITH
CALEB GORDON
& his
MANY VOLUNTEERS
**************************************************************
This is old information I am puting on and if you want to volunteer I am quite sure the program is still under way with a diferent person leading it. Calib has his PHd now and is working in Mexico.
Contact:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biosciences West room 310
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
520-621-3458 phone
520-621-9190 fax
IF YOU ANSWER NO TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
THEN YOU SHOULD CONSIDER
JOINING CALEB GORDON IN ONE OF HIS SPARROW
BANDING SESSIONS.
*********************************
1. Ever got out into the grass lands of southern Arizona and helped flush Sparrows into a mist
net?
2. Helped Caleb remove the Sparrows from the mist nets? He will guide you through every step
on how it's done? Then he will let you do it.
3. Put a metal band on the leg of a Sparrow? Caleb will show you how to do it, & then let you do
it.
4. Have you ever held a Sparrow in your hand up so close that you could tell that the white ring
around their eye is really made up of very small feathers? Feathers about the size of these
dots...........?
5. Ever held a bird in your hand and let it fly back into the wild?
6. Sit around the banding table and get to ask as many questions as you wanted to, and have
them all answered to your satisfaction? Plus be allowed to take as many photographs as you
wanted and as up close as you wanted?
*****************************************
WELL NOW
Are you ready to go Sparrow banding?
Before taking your tour would you like to know where some the Sparrows got their names?
*****************************************
The Baird's Sparrow:
Was named for Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887).
He was the first secretary of the Smithsonian, first United States Fish Commissioner. He was also thought to be the discoverer
of the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Baird became very close friends of Audubon and his family. Audubon says "I have named
this species after my friend Spencer F. Baird."
********************************************
The Cassin's Sparrow:
In 1851 a Dr. John Woodhouse found what was considered to be the first specimen near San Antonio, Texas.
It was named in honor of a friend of his John Cassin. Ornithologist John Cassin is credited with naming some 200 species of birds.
****************************
The Grasshopper Sparrow:
I have seen it written in several books that the name was given because its song resembles that of the insect. However, it was first named in 1789 by a German biologist Johann Gmelin. The species was described in 1818 for the first time in North America. Audubon has refereed to this bird as the "Yellow-winged Bunting". In Connecticut it is considered or designated "Endangered"
****************************************
The Savannah Sparrow:
First described in 1790 by John Latham. He called it the Sandwich Bunting because it came from Sandwich Bay Alaska. John Latham did not like Latin names & felt them unnecessary.
The English name comes from Alexander Wilson of Savannah Georgia.
This is where Alexander Wilson( 1766 - 1813 ) obtained his first specimen. Mr. Wilson came to the United States from Scotland in 1794 and is considered the father of American Ornithology. He had a tendency to name birds after the places where he found them.
*************************************
The Vesper Sparrow:
Was named for its habit of singing at dusk, or it was thought that its song became sweeter at dusk. Audubon called this species the Bay-winged Bunting. In Rhode Island, & New Jersey it is endangered.
Click on Continue and you can visit a typical Sparrow banding outing.
********************
Caleb E. Gordon
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biosciences West room 310
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
520-621-3458 phone
520-621-9190 fax
calebg@u.arizona.edu
*******************************************
Let's see the rest of the story