[TN-Bird] Banding
- From: "K.D. Breault" <KBreault@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 19:47:43 -0600
Decades ago I worked at, and at one point managed, the largest bird banding
operation in the United States. Overall, our mortality rate was nowhere near
10% but rather between 1-3% depending on the season, yet because we were
processing so many birds that percentage translated into many seemingly
unnecessary deaths. Occasionally, we would also find dead birds with our bands
and wonder if our albeit brief treatment of them in some way contributed to
their deaths (in a few cases we were convinced of this). And I will never
forget the day that a storm suddenly drenched our operation such that from some
of the nets only dead birds were removed. I have heard similar stories from
other banders over the years and I am unconvinced of the scientific merits of
many banding projects. I did not go on to become a biologist and I now hold a
Ph.D. in sociology from the Univ. of Chicago, but when I conduct research on
human subjects (I work on human morbidity and mortality in the field of social
epidemiology) I do so only when I have a well-defined research project of
putative scientific value. To indiscriminately study human subjects without a
demonstrably credible research plan would be highly unprofessional. What about
our infra-human subjects? Banders may hope or believe that even though they
themselves are not going to make use of their banding data that at some point
in the future someone else will benefit from them. However, my ornithology
colleagues tell me that for the majority of species in the U.S. banding data
are not scientifically valuable--most of what can be learned is already known.
I am not opposed to banding or even collecting (biologists are routinely
licensed to collect birds for research projects), but banders may want to
consider the ethical issue of whether their banding practices are really
contributing to knowledge and if there are not less obtrusive methods of
obtaining the same information. Chris Sloan's hummer project would seem to
have merit because so little is known about these wayward winter birds. My
concern is that despite the best intentions not all banding operations have the
same scientific value.
Kevin Breault
Professor, Middle Tennessee State University
kbreault@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nashville, TN
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