Gidday Everyone Please remember this is just a point of few from different sides and there is nothing personal against anyone on this forum. Bird Banding is certainly a touchy subject and my original post was very emotional, I have calmed down now and slowly thought about the subject. I have in no way changed my view on this subject and as Damien has put his views forward point by point, can I challenge what he has said, in some ways? For there is no Federal or State funding on the detrimental effects of banding birds for the sake of research and what evidence can I and people who want to remain anonymous give back about banding, please also remember I am not against all banding if it is for the sake of critical research to save a species. No 1 What happens to birds that are injured when either they are caught in a mist net or when Cannon Netting are they sent off to be looked after by carers or do they have their necks rung to put them out of their misery. No 2 Birds flush naturally if a person or animal gets too close to them that is their most natural instinct and in no way does it cause stress to a bird it is there natural defence. If a bird is called in, it can leave of its own free will and I for one do notice that if a bird is agitated I immediately stop the call as the birds welfare is my main priority not the photo. Getting caught in a mist net, and how are birds caught in a mist net? they are usually herded or flushed towards a net! So then after they are trapped in the net they are manhandled, and in a lot of cases jabbed for blood samples, before being ringed, and then placed in a bag to be eventually released. In the case of waders being released, most of them singularly they become ideal prey for predators, so what price for research? And can someone please tell me what is the natural defence of a bird against that? No 3 Have a look at the banding done on the Orange-bellied Parrot, the banding on this species has done nothing, yet pure observation tells us that they are losing their habitat in Victoria and South Australia and this has been learnt by counting numbers not by putting an extremely endangered bird thru the traumatisation of banding. No 4 There are quite a few of us out in the field, week in & out who observe what is going on out there, we know that Australia is a boom bust cycle for some birds and we are well aware of what population growth and unscrupulous developers are doing. But when do we draw the line about banding birds for what some believe is for the good of the species, is the stress and maiming and sometimes death of a bird in the so-called sake of research worth it? Also if anybody out there has a photo of an injured bird done by banding or they think that a bird has to many bands on its legs please send them to me and I will put them up on my website. I for one think it is time that we seriously looked at the habit of Bird Banging for Banding sake and need to come up with a different way, Just remember that way back research was done by shooting, then skinning birds which we all now look at as barbaric. Regards to everyone Geoff Jones Barraimaging — This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com
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