CHESTERTOWN, MD — Washington College is quite literally, for the birds. The college is the home of Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory, the only major migratory bird banding station on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
This year they celebrated a huge milestone. In its 26-year history, the observatory banded its 350,000th bird.
“This tiny little kinglet marks a big occasion for everyone who has worked at the Observatory and banding station over the years,” said Foreman’s Branch Associate Director Maren Gimpel. “Everyone our staff, students, and volunteers played a part in getting us to this point. As one of the few bird observatories affiliated with a small liberal arts college, we are able to contribute critical data to the North American bird banding database while exposing our undergrads to avian monitoring methodologies and current research, providing them with a unique opportunity to explore their passions in ornithology.”
In 2023 staff at Foreman’s Branch caught, identified, banded, and released over 13,000 birds representing more than 125 species including herons, owls, ospreys, hawks, orioles, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, blackbirds, wrens, mockingbirds, bluebirds, and robins.
All the banded birds are logged here.
The team bands the birds with numbered aluminum bangs so they can monitor trends, determine how they travel, and track the productivity of local breeding birds.
The data is also used to track timing of migration of songbirds moving through the Eastern Shore and is reported to the North American Bird Banding Program.
Some of their birds have been tracked as far North as Newfoundland and as far South as Ecuador.
The Bird Observatory, in Chestertown, is nestled in a waterfront refuge on Washington College’s River and Field Campus. The land serves as an important stopover habitat for shorebirds and is home to thousands of migrating and wintering ducks and geese each year.
Washington College is planning to install a new banding station out on Foreman’s Branch, offering students more opportunities to further their studies through paid internships and volunteer opportunities.