Once it's been color-banded, a bird in the bush is worth just as much as a bird in the hand -- for Albion research purposes, anyhow.  Biology professor E. Dale Kennedy, along with students Lauren Sayig and Meagan Bosket, is watching those wild birds as part of one Albion College Student Research Partners Project (SRPP).

Kennedy's current SRPP project focuses on the behavior of chickadees within the Whitehouse Nature Center, specifically looking at whether certain dominance behaviors may be related to sex. 

 

"Albion," named for its purple-over-yellow leg bands, is a frequent visitor to several feeders in the Nature Center, and has been trapped more than once in the research nets.  The silver band on its left leg is a unique ID number, and the orange band corresponds to the Nature Center location where it was first marked.

Chickadee males and females are externally identical, so any understanding of their sex-based behaviors is dependent upon DNA blood testing.

In order do their study, Kennedy and her students trap the birds, then take a small sample of blood (which will establish sex).  The birds are banded so individuals can be monitored.  On top of that, the researchers spend several hours each week, observing and making notes on the birds' behavior.

 

"At first, I worried that we were hurting the birds, but we take such a small amount of blood that it will not damage them," says Bosket (with capillary tube).  "I really enjoy being out in the nature center and learning more about the chickadee population. It's always fun to catch an unbanded bird and recognize some of the birds we've already caught. I have a "favorite" bird, color banded dark green over red, so we call it "Christmas bird." We've caught it several times and we seem to always see it around when we're out."

Because the birds' blood tests won't be done until winter, Sayig notes that their research is "blind."  "We are watching the birds without knowing which are males and which are females," she explains.  "This makes the study really valuable, becuase we're not bringing any of our own ideas about behavior into it."

A view of the Kalamazoo in the Whitehouse Nature Center.  The color says "November," but recent warm temperatures feel more like May, as demonstrated by the students' clothing in the photos above.

Kennedy notes also that she has had SRPP students doing chickadee research since 1997.  Their oldest chickadee was banded in 1998, 'but we didn't know she was a female until last year, when we were able to collect a blood sample," says Kennedy.  "The oldest-known chickadee was observed for 10 1/2 years, so it's pretty cool to have this female still hanging around."

Albion's professors use SRPP to support their own research interests with both funding and student labor -- while students get valuable experience working with a professional researcher -- along with other benefits.

"I’m a bird-lover myself, so it’s a good way to get out in the Nature Center and see them," says Sayig.  "Doing research also gives me a chance to work in the lab and do a project that wouldn't be offered just taking a class."

Related story: Kennedy's summer 2005 research