From Hummingbirds to Snow Geese: Banding Birds for Science With Cyndi Smith
Join Cyndi Smith at the Whyte Museum as she talks about what scientists can learn from capturing and banding birds, some of the many techniques that are used, and the results from some of the projects that she has been involved in. This will also be a bit of a travelogue, as Cyndi has participated in bird studies from the Arctic to the Tropics.
Event Overview
- Jun 22, 2023
- 7pm - 9pm
- Whyte Museums of the Canadian Rockies
- $5
Speaker Biography
Cyndi Smith worked for Parks Canada from 1980 until her retirement in 2012. During her career, she worked in one national historic site and five national parks in western and northern Canada (including Banff National Park), in roles as diverse as interpretation, law enforcement, backcountry patrol and resource management. She started banding birds in 1997 as part of her ongoing study of Harlequin Ducks on the Bow River, which also became her MSc topic at Simon Fraser University. Cyndi started and still operates two MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding stations; in Banff National Park since 1999 and in Waterton Lakes National Park since 2002.
Cyndi has volunteered on various bird monitoring projects in Alberta, as well as in Montana, France, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, and Belize. Cyndi is vice-president of the Calgary Bird Banding Society, and on the steering committee of the CMMN (Canadian Migration Monitoring Network), and holds a master bander permit from Environment and Climate Change Canada.