Dr. Tim Brush and chapter member, Ki Brush, ask if our members could help in re-sighting color banded Green Jays and Clay-colored Thrushes. Their message is below. This counts as Citizen Science Volunteer Service.
Green Jays and Clay-colored Thrushes are two tropical bird species that folks can see in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and adjacent areas of South Texas; a little tropical color in the USA! They live in natural habitat for the most part, but people have been seeing them in some of our cities as well. We would like to know how they are using the cities—do the same birds stay in an area, are is a transient population? Are they producing young, and how are those birds doing? The Clay-colored Thrush is another tropical bird species, but one that has only been in the Valley 30-40 years and has a rapidly growing population. They seem to be doing well, but again we would like to learn how individual birds are moving around (or not!).
Color-banding allows us to recognize individual birds, because each gets a unique combination of colored bands as well as the numbered USGS metal band (that can only be read if the bird is recaptured). For about two years, we have been color-banding Green Jays and Clay-colored Thrushes at locations in Edinburg and McAllen. Any re-sightings would be much appreciated, and birds could show up in a variety of locations. Anyone is welcome to contact me with any questions about the birds or the study. The contact email addresses and what to look for are on the card below.
Thanks!
Tim and Ki Brush
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