ADDISON — Bird-lovers are invited to join the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department at the new Dead Creek Visitor Center in Addison to learn more about bird banding and conservation. The department is partnering with Otter Creek Audubon to host Bird Banding Week with hands-on bird banding demonstrations.
Songbird banding will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on October 16, 17, and 21. Owl banding will take place from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Friday, October 20.
Bird bander Rodney Olson of Vergennes will lead the banding workshop. Members of the public will help identify the birds, observe the banding process, and can even help release the birds after they are banded.
 “Birds are currently on a massive migration headed southward, and many people aren’t even aware of it,” said Olson. “Dead Creek is a great location to witness this migration because Dead Creek is actually alive — it’s teeming with life. I encourage people to come learn more about the conservation work that goes on at Dead Creek and other wildlife management areas every day.”
Bird banding is a conservation tool that helps biologists track the health of bird populations in the wild. It can also help biologists better understand bird movements in order to target high priority habitats for conservation efforts.
There will be several other stations set up to allow people to participate and learn more, including a station to identify birds using binoculars, a hunter education station to learn about waterfowl blinds and decoys, and a station with stuffed bird mounts.
Interested school groups are asked to contact Corey Hart at [email protected]. The new Dead Creek Visitor Center is located at 966 Vermont Route 17, in Addison.