Avian Research and Education Institute

User registration disabled for the time being

Alex Grantz — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:12:28 +0000

I’ve disabled user registration for the time being on the site. There are too many spam accounts being created for me to keep up with now. If you would like to make an account so you can post comments to the stories, contact one of us and we can make one for you. If you’ve already created an account, you can still login and post as normal.

Thane Maynard to speak at Queen City Bird Festival 2010

Jill Russell — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:13:05 +0000

Thane Maynard, Director of Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, author and host of NPR’s 90-Second Naturalist will be the Keynote Speaker at the Queen City Bird Festival, Saturday, May 15, 2010. An avid birder, Thane will share is love of nature and hope for all animals at 4pm. Click here for more information.

Alaska Bound!

Jill Russell — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:40:36 +0000

We will not be banding birds at any of our banding stations in Ohio this summer. Instead, Dave & Jill Russell will be teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and volunteering at the Alaska Bird Observatory.

Emma & Elliot’s Blog

Jill Russell — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:07:15 +0000

Emma & Elliot have been learning about birds at the AREI banding station and would like to share the cool stuff they are doing! Check back here often to see what they’ve done!

Nelson’s Sparrow (formerly known as Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow) at Shakertrace

Jill Russell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:12:20 +0000

This handsome Nelson’s was a pleasant surprise at Miami Whitewater Park, Shakertrace Wetlands on Thursday. We’ll be banding there again Sunday morning, so come on out and join us!

Vireo Quintet at HWBS

Jill Russell — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:11:22 +0000

Yesterday was a phenominal day at the banding station at Hueston Woods State Park. On our first net run of the morning, we got a White-eyed Vireo (above). The very next run produced the quartet of Vireo’s below. Can you name them?

Top Row (L to R): Yellow-throated & Philadelphia, Bottom Row (L to R): Red-eyed & Blue-headed. Wow! What an amazing photograph!!!

Birding Blitz Weekend October 2-4

Jill Russell — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:35:30 +0000

AREI is proud to sponsor the first beginning birder Birding Blitz Weekend at Hueston Woods State Park, Friday October 2 through Sunday October 4th, 2009.

A group campground has been reserved, so bring the family and pitch a tent. The schedule is as follows:

Birding Blitz Weekend

Friday night owling with folks from Raptor, Inc.
Saturday morning bird banding of fall migrants (Dave & Jill Russell)
Saturday afternoon beginning birding workshop (Dave Russell)
Saturday evening, talk and bird skinning with Herman Mays, Zoology Curator at the Cincinnati Natural History Museum
Saturday night, bonfire, bat netting and bug black lighting (Jeff Brown & the Russells)
Sunday, sparrow banding at Miami Whitewater Shakertrace Wetlands – this is the most exciting time to band at Shakertrace – we get over 200 birds and you can hold them and really study them. (we are in the peak of sparrow migration)!

If you are interested in attending the Birding Blitz Weekend, PLEASE CONTACT KATHY MCDONALD THIS WEEK. She needs to turn in a head count for food, etc. Kathy’s number: 513.941.6497

HWBS Banding May 29 09

Dave Russell — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:30:22 +0000

Today we had a tremendous ending to what has been an amazingly slow week! After banding a total of 21 birds (and recapturing 9) in two previous mornings this week in the field (Tues and Wed), we finally had some bird movement today banding 17 (and recapturing 17). The highlight by far was a second-year (SY) male Cerulean Warbler—our first ever and our 35 warbler species!! The only regularly occurring species we have never banded is Yellow-throated—and they nest at the banding station! In addition to the Cerulean, we banded a nice SY male Mourning, a SY male American Redstart, a SY Northern Waterthrush (I thought they were all done!) Amazingly we continue to band Gray Catbirds, three more unbanded birds hit the nets this morning-seven this week although our resident birds (at least the females) all appear to be in the midst of nesting (on eggs) with well developed brood patches. More photos here.

2009 Queen City Bird Festival Success!!

Jill Russell — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:16:32 +0000

We had a great turn out at the 2nd Queen City Bird Festival this weekend at Hueston Woods State Park, OH. Attendance was double from last year, and apart from some stormy weather on Saturday, folks came out for both Saturday and Sunday activities! Click here to see a summary of the Queen City Bird Festival 2009.

Banding Summary & Pictures HWBS 4/23/09

Alex Grantz — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:06:03 +0000

Dave has posted a new banding summary page for today’s banding at Hueston Woods. Check out the summary and a few pictures at the banding summary page.