Patricia Scott

Patricia Scott at the Birdcraft bird-banding station.

Patricia Scott, Wilton
Bird-bander at Birdcraft Sanctuary

“I went on a birding trip with Connecticut Audubon in the fall of maybe 1999 or 2000. The leader suggested that I contact her friend, Judy Richardson, who was the master bander at Birdcraft.  She thought I would love bird banding.  She was right.

“The birds are trapped in mist nets which we set up seasonally in the sanctuary at Birdcraft.  They are carefully removed and processed.  We identify the species, attach a USGS band of the appropriate size, age and sex if possible, measure the wing, evaluate the presence of fat on the bird, weigh it, and send it on its merry way.  Each band has a unique number.  All the collected data is submitted to the national database, housed in Maryland.

“I was a relatively new, but enthusiastic, birder when I first volunteered.  I knew absolutely nothing about banding.  In the beginning I was certain I would never remove a bird from the net, but after a couple of weeks I thought ‘I can do this.’ Over the years my knowledge and experience has grown immeasurably.”

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“My favorite part of being a bird bander is touching the birds, of course!  It has really improved my identification skills, which makes my experiences in the field that much better.

“Banding gives us a snapshot of what’s happening with bird populations right now.  The collection of data shows us long term trends and fluctuations.  We also get an idea of how the changes in the Birdcraft habitat affect the local and migrant populations.  We lost a lot of trees in the Halloween blizzard, and a year later in the Sandy storm.  Deer did long-term damage to our understory.  It’s finally starting to come back.”