Banded: How a Birder's-Eye View Made a Community
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Speaker: David Russel
Date & Time: January 27, 2026 @ 7pm Location: Zoom meeting: Registration required: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/E4-kyuiBTlCl59WhK-3ezQ After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Abstract:
Banded is a short documentary about the charismatic ornithologist Dr. David Russell and his non-profit Avian Research and Education Institute (AREI), which organizes researchers, students, and citizen scientists to run a bird banding station at Hueston Woods State Park in Oxford, Ohio. Populations of migratory birds have fallen by 40-70% over the last 30 years, a statistic tied to parallel decreases in insect populations and habitat. To help stem this global crisis, ornithologists and engineers recently developed miniature tracking devices called nanotags that migrating birds can wear on their backs as they travel. For the first time in human history, scientists have robust and precise data on avian migration behaviors, which is upending longstanding theories, reshaping approaches to conservation, and augmenting the importance of banding stations. Filmed in the tradition of cinema-vérité, Banded follows Russell and the banding volunteers who gather data on the ground by setting up nets to catch wild birds at dawn and then examining by hand species including hawks, cardinals, warblers, scarlet tanagers, orioles, indigo buntings, Swainson’s thrushes, pileated woodpeckers, tufted titmice, and many more. Russell’s story blends science and civics, showing how a birder’s-eye view can help the rest of us inhabit—and care for—a more expansive and wondrous world. |
Biography:
David Russell, a Miami University professor and certified bird bander trainer, has been banding birds with Oxford residents and students at the Hueston Woods Biological Station for decades, collecting data and forming a tight-knit community in the process. Most avian research stations are closed off and inaccessible to the public, in order to avoid the risk of naive posting online, which can undermine scientific integrity. Therefore, the stations often only recruit experienced bird banders, rather than training newcomers. Russell looks at the situation a little differently. “I take a different approach because I think it’s important that we bring students out, and we bring community members out, and I bring other college classes out because they don’t get this experience,” Russell said. More Information: https://sunscreenfilmfestival2025.eventive.org/films/67bc8465a1174097eb9b828b |