Migratory Bird Banding Station at the VINS Bragdon Nature Preserve

Between 1981 and 2000, VINS operated a migratory bird banding station at the Bragdon Nature Preserve in Woodstock, VT. The 8-acre study site, centered around a small pond (~ 1-acre), was characterized by heterogeneous second-growth deciduous shrub-woodland, consisting of brushy thickets interspersed with groves of largely mature trees, including sugar maple, bigtooth aspen, black cherry, and white ash.

Between 15 and 20 mist nets (12 x 2.6 m, 4-panel, 36-mm extended mesh) were operated each year, generally from 15 April to 15 June in spring, and 1 August to 15 November in fall. Typically, nets were opened five days a week for six hours, beginning 0.5 hr before sunrise. While some net site locations shifted during the study period, nets were maintained at fixed locations after 1987.

Over 40,000 individual birds of 125 species were banded during the 20-year study, and more than 10,000 banded birds were recaptured, amassing a valuable database on migratory bird stopover ecology, molt, site fidelity, and more. To view a table listing the 20 most commonly captured species and their annual totals, click here (.pdf, 64 kb).

Published Papers

Rimmer, C.C., S.D. Faccio, T.L. Lloyd-Evans, and J.M. Hagan III. 2004. A comparison of constant effort mist netting results at a coastal and inland New England site during migration. Studies in Avian Biology 29: 123-134.

Dwyer, C.S. and C.C. Rimmer. 2000. Definitive prebasic molt of Gray Catbirds at two sites in New England. Condor 102:894-904.

Mulvihill, R.S. and C.C. Rimmer. 1997. Timing and extent of the molts of adult Red-eyed Vireos on their breeding and wintering grounds. Condor 99:73-82.

Rimmer, C.C. and C.H. Darmstadt. 1996. Non-breeding site fidelity in Northern Shrikes. J. Field Ornithol. 67:360-366.