At 20:50 23/04/2002 -0700, John Gamblin wrote:
So David are you saying that banding and bleeding
birds has NO detrimental affect what so ever on the
banded or bled birds? If you go back in time to when
birds were first banded then why is it still done?
And as for bleeding birds then I am at a loss to
figure out why this madness of an activity still takes
place?
There are some blood samples taken from banded birds but on a small scale.
A few years ago I assisted the banding of shorebirds in the north
west. The WA Agriculture & Health Departments wanted blood samples from
the birds for the testing of diseases. This was arranged with the samples
also being used for DNA testing as part of a world wide project. Blood
samples were taken from up to 10 individuals of each species. The samples
were only a very few millilitres (a small capillary tube). The bleeding
was stopped, the wound dusted with an antiseptic powder, and the bird kept
under observation until it was ready to leave (nearly all immediately the
powder had been applied).
I seem to remember that about 200 samples from about 25 to 30 species were
taken from a total of about 9,000 birds banded over the 10 weeks. All
birds were released successfully. The banding records sent to the ABBBS
were marked with a comment that blood samples had been taken.
___________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
| 