Cape May Songbird Stopover Project Internship
New Jersey Audubon Research Department
María Jesús Sepulveda Fall 2024
Cape May Songbird Stopover Project Staff, November 6, 2024
First Days on the Job
My first day working for the Songbird Stopover Project began on September 8th at the South Cape May Meadows tagging station, where I learned about this wonderful place and team. I also learned about net opening, maintenance, and inspection and how to extract the first birds. My main duties were to open and check nets (see Figure 1), record data (figure 2), and open the station in the morning. During the first days, I also began studying all the new east-coast bird species.
Net Opening
The day began 30 minutes before dawn when the nets were opened. There were seventeen operational nets numbered from No. 1 to No. 22 (those from No. 14 to 18 are not operational). The nets were checked every 30 minutes for 6 hours, except for closure due to severe weather conditions. During periods of high abundance of migratory birds, a daily net opening protocol is started, ensuring the birds’ continuity, flow, safety, variability, and representativeness.
photo 2: Closure of net, September 13, 2024.
Photo 3: Data entry in a spreadsheet, September 15, 2024
Data Collection:
Once the birds were extracted from the nets, they are then taken to the station to be banded. Once in the station, the following data is collected:
Species name, age and method of determination (plumage, molt limit, eye color, tail, skull), sex and method of determination (plumage, wing length), % fat, % body molt, molt, wing length, body mass,
Additional information was collected for specific species, such as swamp sparrow, the width of the base of the bill, and the length from the nostril were recorded, and for flycatchers, the width of the base of the bill, the length from the nostril, the length of the tail, and the differences in the tail feathers were measured.
Extractions and Banding:
In addition to the record being kept for the Project, a daily record was kept with the number of individuals I extracted and banded. A weekly summary is presented in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Summary of extractions and birds tagged during the internship, Cape May 2024.
Table 2. Species tagged during the internship.
During the first 3 weeks, the main species extracted were: Common Yellow-throated, Gray Catbird, Northern Waterthrush, and American Redstart. October was a much busier month for the project with the main species that were extracted and banded being the following: Yellow-rumped warbler, Swamp sparrow, and Song sparrow.
During the last week in November, the main highlights were 3 Downy woodpeckers, an American Robin, and an Orange-crowned Warbler.
Photo 4 Bird extraction from the net, September 23, 2024.
Photo 5 Wing length measurement, September 22, 2024.
During the season, I had the opportunity to extract 1,458 birds and ring a total of 135 individuals corresponding to 18 species.
This was thanks to the incredible skills that Maia Nguyen, one of the Banders-In-Charge for the program, was able to teach me. Her experience together with my motivation to learn resulted in the completion of the internship.
New Learnings:
During the internship, I was able to learn the operational part of the station, the tools necessary for its operation, data collection, and the variables to consider when banding, such as time, natural light, winds, and temperature.
In the United States, there are several studies by Pyle about the determination of age, sex, and molts, which help to figure out bird identification in an effective way. There are also many investigations in Cape May, which can be particularly useful in figuring out the sex, the extension of wings, and the weight of the birds. I also learned what the limitations are in autumn “nonbreeding” for the determination of sex in birds without noticeable sexual dysmorphism. During my time with the project, I had the opportunity to see the deployment of songbird transmitters, which awakened my interest in monitoring migrations with different technologies.
In Chile, the situation is vastly different from bird species, which have been little studied, but there are recent studies with updated records from the Bird Book of the World, in which I take part together with other students and ornithologists, to process the information, about the species of Chile, with special attention to endemic species. The conservation status of birds is also compiled according to the IUCN criteria.
In parallel, from the Chilean Bird and Wildlife Observers Network (ROC), efforts were made to install a new permanent station in San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santiago, Chile., which began its operation in October 2024, whose objective is to tag urban bird species, mainly passerines and bush birds. This station is one of the thirty-four biodiversity hotspots worldwide with 3,893 species of plant, fungi, and animal kingdoms. The region’s climate has a prolonged dry season, similar to the climate of California, USA. This strategic location will contribute to the knowledge of national and South American birds.
Returning to Chile, I hope to be able to collaborate with what I have learned in these two months in the program coordinated by New Jersey Audubon.
Other Activities During My Internship: Mural to Celebrate Migratory Birds
The proposal was born from the idea of leaving a gift to the place and the people, celebrating, and educating about migratory birds and the importance of insects for conservation. For this reason, a mural proposal highlighting the various migratory birds and emblematic insects of the Cape May area.
The proposal was approved by Nature Conservancy after David Mizrahi presented it to those in charge. Regarding the selection of species, a survey was conducted on the favorite songbird in Cape May to 24 people. In the creation of the mural, 4 people from the banding station and the Monarch Monitoring Project helped to complete it.
Seventh day of painting the “Birds of Cape May” community mural, in South Cape May Meadows, Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Photo 7 “Birds of Cape May” Mural, completed, on October 30, 2024.
Thanks to the Cape May Raptor Banding Projects banding station, I had the opportunity to get an up-close look at various birds of prey, such as the one I share with my country Chile, the peregrine falcon.
With the help of Charlotte, the Raptor Banding Technician, I was able to hold the peregrine falcon in my hands, visit the station, learn about the capture methodology, and be part of the activities that promote and educate visitors to the State Park and South Cape May Meadows.
Photo 8: Peregrine Falcon tagged by Cape May Raptor Banding Project, South Cape May Meadows
I also had the opportunity to visit the Cape May Owl Banding Project twice with my songbird banding coworker. On each visit, I was able to learn age-determination techniques for the Northern Saw-whet Owl.
Photo 9 Northern Saw-whet Owl age determination.
I also learned the process of tagging and monitoring monarch butterflies from the Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project. I had the opportunity to release a butterfly, without a doubt an experience that I will always remember.
Monarch butterfly tagged by Gayle, a biologist with the Monarch Monitoring Project.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn and train with the Cape May Songbird Stopover Project staff, led by David Mizrahi. Thank you for believing in my abilities and selecting me as an intern for the fall 2024 season. I once again thank my coworkers, the excellent work team with whom I enjoyed the experience, and especially Maia Nguyen, an expert tagger who kindly gave her time to train me and teach me everything.
I want to thank Environment for the Americas for supporting young Latin American professionals who are enthusiastic about birds and nature conservation like me, to get different training and experience opportunities. This experience has generated valuable professional and personal growth in me.
