AFAR field trip Nov 21

AVIAN RESEARCH TOUR

A group of 22 Stratford Field Naturalists and friends visited the Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR) at Western University in London on November 21. Two bird behaviour specialists, Dr. Scott MacDougall-Shackleton and Dr. David Sherry, provided a guided tour and told us about bird studies currently underway there.

We got to stick our heads into the famous wind tunnel where many of the close-up shots of birds in flight for the documentary, “The Messenger”, were filmed. We stood behind the two-way mirror the researchers use so they can observe birds caching seeds without disrupting their natural behaviours. We saw the high-tech machine that can analyze a bird’s fat stores and reveal how much of this is used up under different migration scenarios.

Fortunately, advances in equipment now allow most avian research subjects to be caught, studied and released back into their natural habitats. We learned about the protocols for ethical treatment of the birds and saw the way they are housed and handled. For some projects, the birds must be held in separate cages. For other work, they are held together in rooms with perches, ample food and even wading pools for the shorebirds. Some are housed outdoors in a large roof-top aviary. Sometimes birds are banded when they are released, which is how the AFAR team discovered that a few of those birds have come back and found a way to break into the outdoor aviary in search of food.

Western’s bird research set up is world class and attracts visiting research teams from across Canada, the United States, Europe and even Asia. The work done at AFAR includes bird reproduction, feeding behaviours, migration and adaptation to environmental changes. One of the more interesting projects we heard about involved when and how some bird species learn their songs.

After the AFAR tour, most of the group visited the Elsie Perrin-Williams estate on Windemere Road to check out the nature trails there. We may return in the spring to walk this area along the Medway Creek.

We ended this field outing with a hearty lunch at the King Edward pub in Ilderton.