Studying Finches

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Description

Methods of studying finches are described, illustrated and explained in this program. The key activity is capturing birds in mist-nets in several locations around the island. The nets are put up in late afternoon, opened before dawn, and finches that have flown in and captured are removed. They are taken to a shady cave where they are weighed, measured and banded for later individual identification. The program shows how a small drop of blood is taken for later DNA analysis before the finch is released. The fates of individually recognizable finches are determined through daily recordings of birds seen and their activities. Finches breed in the wet season. Nests are found, eggs and nestlings are observed every other day and nestlings are banded when they are eight days old. Songs of males are tape-recorded. The goal of studies in the dry season is to determine what finches are feeding on, and their survival.