Masonville Cove in South Baltimore is a special place to study birds. Once a dumping ground for sediment dredged from the Baltimore Harbor, the Cove is now a popular urban wildlife refuge. Community educator and wildlife ecologist Sharon Dorsey is part of a research team that’s monitoring bird populations at the refuge with a scientific technique called bird banding. It’s a specialized, federally-regulated method to safely catch and release wild birds. The information gathered by bird banders is recorded in a global database. So if the banded bird is encountered again, at another station or during a different season, researchers will know that it once took refuge in Baltimore.

This is Black Birders Week! Learn how to participate by following the hashtag #BlackBirdersWeek on social media and checking out the full program here.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.

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