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NOTICE BOARD

Swanbourne Swansong

We finished banding at Mt Claremont in August as Boyd is planning to move to the south west permanently.
Neither Toni nor I felt like taking it over as it is quite a difficult site with a lot of sand dunes to lug all the gear up.
We are all 20 years older now and find its getting harder. As well as that we both plan to go away a lot. (hopefully).
Boyd is talking about banding down there so we might go and help with that sometimes.
Helen Frederiksen

From the Editor

Members please forward your photos, reports on your banding or any articles that you may have written or interesting ones you have found. At times we do not have enough for an issue. Thanks Jonny for your latest report which will head the next newsletter.

 We have received the Swanbourne group’s reports consistently as well as the Broome ones. Thanks to those groups for sending them through. Sad to learn that the Swanbourne group will be breaking up. We hope that their members will join other groups and continue their hobby.

 Personally things are improving and we hope to resume some of our banding projects. Although Perry can no longer handle birds his wealth of knowledge will assist those of us who can.

 We would like to welcome a new member to the association. Dr Alan Brooks

Alan writes:

I would like to introduce myself as an experienced bird bander who has just arrived in WA to retire. One of my first priorities is to get involved in banding near my new home, which is in Denmark near the Wilson Inlet. I therefore need to make contact with an experienced bander who will be able to mentor me for an Australian 'A' licence.  Once this has been achieved, I would like to set up a long-term population study of birds in this area - something which seems to be lacking from the list of current projects on your website.

(We have contacted banders in the area for Alan Ed.) 

I took up this fascinating hobby on retirement five years ago so my experience is purely amateur. Nevertheless, I have already handled more than 12,000 birds from 376 different species; I have done voluntary work in Turkey and Kenya, as well as locally. Most of my experience is with mistnets and small passerines in South Africa, but I have also had some experience with waders, vultures, oxpeckers (relocation), raptors (mostly caught on bal chatri), and Sociable Weavers.  I have also taken a few blood samples (mostly from Oxpeckers).

In addition to my direct involvement in banding, I also enjoy writing articles of a more popular nature; you can read a couple of them on the Afring News website (http://safring.adu.org.za/afring_news_current.php), especially my experiences in Turkey (A Tale Of Two Ringing Sites).

 My first job will be to get to grips with the local birds in South Coast WA, but I have visited the area a couple of times, so I already have some knowledge of the local birds.  I have ordered a copy of Perry's guide which I shall study intently so that I can get to grips with the local species. I am keen to join the WBA.  I met some farmers on the flight over here who have a place at Frankland River and they often have a group of banders on their property. (I am guessing Ron Watkins Ed)  

I hope to set up my own project around the Wilson Inlet.  

Welcome to the WBA Alan 

Committee

Please feel free to contact any one of the committee if you have any ideas for 2012's planner. Would you like help at your patch? Need help with writing up your study? Ideas on how to set up a new study? Anything at all, just let us know and we can include it in the plan for next year

Planner 2012

Please forward details of events you would like to see on next years planner to Alma. Have we been to your patch lately? Where shall we go for a campout? Social events? etc, Let Alma know your ideas.

Subscriptions are now due – see below

Subscription Address: “Waldja”, 35 Crossman Road, Boddington WA 6390. Tel. (08) 9883 9309.

Eyre Bird Observatory

Volunteer Caretakers:

Eyre Bird Observatory is seeking enthusiastic volunteers to care take the facility. The observatory is a not for profit research, education and nature based facility. Duties include public relations, weather reporting to Bureau of Meteorology, cooking for overnight guests, cleaning and office duties. Being a bird enthusiasts will be a bonus. Accommodation and food provided free of charge.
Eyre is situated in a wilderness environment in the Great Australian Bight.
Contact: eyrebirdobs@bigpond.com.au or check the website www.eyrebirds.org/

Cockatoo Feather DNA Study

Nicole White is carrying out the above study and would like help from WBA members to achieve her aims, she asks that all specimens collected are sent using the form on the left with the help of the instruction form on the right.
Nicole says that if the optimum 3, 4 or 5 feather samples are unable to be taken, then even one feather may be enough to  produce some results.

Webmaster's Note: If the graphics below are individually copied and pasted into a word processing program, they can be resized to suit.

 

ABBBS Data Submission

Over the past few years, the ABBBS has developed a 'web-portal' into the ABBBS database. The portal is divided into two parts: a non-secure public access portal that allows the public to query coarse-scale data by species; and a bander-only secure portal that allows registered banders to validate and submit data to the ABBBS.

The secure portal was launched and banders are now able to register and log on to the system to look up band issues and location codes, validate their data and submit it to the banding office electronically. It is hoped that this new system will improve the quality of the incoming data, as well as improve the efficiency of the banding office in processing the enormous quantity of data that is submitted each year

There will be instruction sheets available to banders on how to register, log on, validate data, submit data, and use the other facilities available on the site. The portal can be accessed at the ABBBS homepage: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/

 

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Copyright Western Banders Association, 2012           Last Updated: 03/01/2012