Become A Volunteer Banding & Monitoring Researcher Today!
High standards for volunteer training and ethical treatment of birds that set VARC apart. Meeting and spending time with awesome like-minded people and contributing to avian conservation! Shae Turner
One of VARC’s most popular volunteer opportunities is bird banding & monitoring at our Colony Farm research station in Coquitlam. There are several different positions in banding but, they are based on level of knowledge and experience. If you are new to banding and have no training, you can typically start with Scribe work or you can shadow other positions and help with various important tasks. If you have previous experience with banding, you will generally start with a level assessment and be placed in roles that best suits your skills and the needs of the station. Most volunteers move back and forth between all roles once they are trained. This helps to keep all knowledge and skill sets sharp.
Regardless of your level of experience there is opportunity to learn and grow. We have developed a structured, graduated training program for volunteers who want to assist at the banding station and for those wishing to handle birds. This Volunteer Level Assessment training program includes net extraction training and ongoing development of processing, ageing and sexing skills. The purpose of the training program is to ensure that all visitors and volunteers are fully trained and evaluated before handling birds and that the safety and welfare of the birds we study is always the top priority. We also offer Bird Monitoring and Banding Workshops and Bird Identification Workshops to provide exceptional technical foundations. This is extremely useful for volunteers wishing to assist with the banding program or weekly bird census.
If you are interested in training, we always suggest people come out for an initial visit to meet the team and discuss volunteering in more detail. We do ask people to commit to regular days each month so they can be added to the schedule and we normally ask for a minimum commitment of 4 scheduled days each month. That doesn’t sound like much, but the novelty can quickly go out of banding when you have to set your alarm clock for 3.30 or 4.00 a.m. during the summer months to get to the banding station for dawn on your weekends off!
