Bird banded near Edmonton turns up at tagging station in South America
A Baltimore oriole banded east of Edmonton made its way last year to Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea.
The adult male, at least three years old, was banded by assistant biologist Sara Pearce Meijerink last May 26 at the Beaverhill Bird Observatory and found 5,850 kilometres away in Sevillano, Colombia, on Oct. 22. Having a bird recaptured at a different banding station is less than a 0.1 per cent chance, Meijerink said.
Unfortunately for the bird, he was recovered because he hit a window while seeking shade in the trees of the region’s coffee and cacao plantations, and died.
“Windows are not a part of the natural world,” she said. “Birds do not understand that they can’t fly through it.”
She added windows tend to be reflective and they may think they’re flying to a tree for shelter and instead fly to their deaths.
The birds forage for insects, fruit and nectar in the tree canopies of deciduous forests. For the observatory, it is the furthest south a banded bird has been recovered.
Meijerink remembers the bird because it was her first older male Baltimore oriole, distinct for its bright orange and sharp black feathers.
Birds banded by the observatory have been found in the Central American countries of Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador.
It was the first time a bird banded by the observatory was found in South America.
Meijerink’s love of birds stems back to childhood when she fed chickadees sunflower seeds out of her hands. She went to school for biology and did bird survey work.
“My co-workers took me under their wing and they taught me everything they knew and got me hooked on birding,” she said. “Once you start, it’s hard to stop.”
The observatory has spotted 270 species.
Windows are a common killer of birds, she said, causing an estimated 16 to 42 million bird deaths annually in Canada. Along with house cats, neonicotinoids and habitat loss, the Baltimore oriole population has decreased by 24 per cent since the 1960s.
Meijerink said people who have outdoor cats should not put out food for birds.
“Cats love to hunt for the thrill of it,” she said. “They get a kick out of killing animals, specifically birds, and they’re very effective killers.”