David Lamble is many things – a retired chemistry teacher, a solo singer, and a Master bird bander.
A love of birds brings him to Luther Marsh wildlife management area about 200 days each year. He enjoys spending an entire day hunting for birds and banding them, recording what he finds and especially inviting others to help and learn.
“I think Luther is one of the most wonderful places on the entire planet. It is so diverse,” he said.
Bird banding is a way of keeping tabs on the number of wild birds. When that meticulously collected information is gathered year after year, it leads to a better understanding of populations and the habitat needs of each species.
Lamble began bird banding in 1978 and by 1999, he had banded 60,000 birds and received a GRCA Watershed award for that work. Now he has more than doubled that and has banded 140,000 birds.
Master bander
“It is the highest quality science that he gives us,” said Rob Messier, terrestrial ecologist at the GRCA. “It guides and influences a lot of our management at Luther. His observations have been translated into actions to improve bird habitat.”
Lamble has helped to make some educated guesses about what changes can be made to improve habitat so that in future years, more birds will find a home at Luther Marsh.
“I have made suggestions and they have been implemented. Eagles are now nesting at Luther, osprey numbers have increased due to additional nesting platforms. Now we’re increasing prairie grasslands and that is starting to bring back some species. I’m quite tickled that I have been a tiny little part of that,” he said.
He operates three banding stations at Luther Marsh. In June, he bands herons, capturing the young ones just before they are ready to leave the nest. In July it is osprey, and after that waterfowl and then grassland birds such as bobolink. There is a seasonal rhythm to the banding and collection of information.
Each January, Lamble sends out a letter about his activities during the previous year. In 2010, he banded 15,036 birds of 101 species. The most numerous were 8,101 snow buntings, 1,549 tree swallows, and 1,000 bobolink. One snow bunting banded near Arthur in January was seen near Oqaatsut, Greenland in April, so it travelled nearly 3,300 kilometres.
He believes that eastern bluebirds have rebounded in the Grand River watershed, because he has noticed an increasing number of them and banded 519 during 2010.
“There’s no need to get concerned about them anymore,” he says.
Lamble has taught about 1,000 young people between grade 2 and university about birds over the past few years. He bands strictly as a volunteer. Each year at Youth Outdoors Day (youthoutdoorsday.com), kids crowd around him as he offers them the opportunity to hold a bird and check out his tools, some of which he has designed himself. A tough teenager’s heart can soften as he holds a small bird in his hand and feels its warmth.
“Once someone has captured a bird and then let it go, they have a much better understanding of how fragile they are. Education is extraordinarily important. I have the utmost faith in humankind after working with young people,” Lamble said.
Janet Baine is a GRCA Communications Specialist
