Photo by Daniel Froehlich
PSBO currently operates two MAPS stations – one at McChord Airforce Base and another at the Morse Wildlife Preserve. The MAPS (Monitoring Avian Survivorship) program is a network of 500+ banding stations across North America which follow a standardized constant-effort mist-netting protocol. The stations are run by public agencies, private organizations and individual bird banders. The program was started in 1989 by the Institute for Bird Populations in order to study the relationship between bird productivity (number of young), survivorship (how long they live) and continent-wide fluctuations in bird populations.
There are approximately 500 MAPS stations in North America. Each station has 10 permanent net sites in a 20 Hectare (ha) area. Each station is visited once every ten days between May 31 and August 11. During a visit, all ten nets are run for six hours weather permitting, starting at sunrise.
Birds are captured using mist nets, which are special nylon mesh nets 12 m long x 2 m high. The birds are identified to
Photo by Suzanne Tomassi
species, banded, aged, have breeding characteristics assessed, and released. This monitoring program complements the National Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) program, providing data about how well a population is doing in addition to numbers of birds–data that can only be obtained from banding.
Visiting a MAPS Site
MAPS Banding Station Volunteers
MAPS Stations at Morse Preserve and McChord Airforce Base operate in spring and early summer, annually. Due to security restrictions at McChord, potential volunteers need to submit their name and drivers license well in advance of banding – usually by early April.
Volunteer tasks: Data collection, aging and sexing, and record-keeping. Extraction and banding by experienced banders, only. Skilled volunteers are needed, but inexperienced volunteers are welcomed to attend and observe. PSBO will provide limited training when possible.
