Prospectus Long Point Programs

	For nearly four decades now, BSC's Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) has engaged volunteers in studies of migrant and breeding birds on Long Point. LPBO has the longest, continuous, scientifically-reliable Migration Monitoring Program on the continent. This extraordinary accomplishment - tens of thousands of bird records assembled largely by a committed cadre of volunteers - tracks the rise and fall of nearly 200 species of Canadian birds that breed in Canada and winter in more southerly and tropical climes. In 1997 alone, LPBO attracted volunteers from across Canada and the United States, and from Brazil, Britain, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany and Mexico. With their help, population trend estimates were calculated for the 38-year period since the Observatory was founded.
	The Doug Tarry Young Ornithologists' Workshop is BSC's annual week-long educational opportunity for high-school students who have a zest for the natural world. Offered as a scholarship for young people, it invites interested teenagers to apply from across Canada. Only six are bestowed with the prestigious Doug Tarry Award, while another interns with us for a full month in the fall. The emphasis is on hands-on field training. Students learn how to identify, band, age and sex birds, and to study their populations and behaviour.
	The mandate of the Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund is to conduct long-term studies of migrating and staging waterfowl, and their food resources, at Long Point. The Fund recently embarked on an ambitious 3-year study of Tundra Swans. This species' numbers have increased continent-wide over the past twenty years, particularly noticeable at Long Point. Tundra Swans are one of the least understood species of waterfowl in North America. Satellite transmitters were attached to 12 Tundra Swans at Long Point. This will allow us to study their annual round trip migration (14,000 to 16,000 km) between the Atlantic coast and somewhere in the Canadian Arctic, and to determine the importance of Long Point in their annual cycle.

I pretty much got everything I'd expected out of the experience. I wanted to learn how to extract and process birds and I felt I not only learned those things but was also able to give back meaningful contributions. I am very impressed and will certainly take what I have learned to the United States where I can share it with colleagues.

Andrew Ingersoll
1998 Migration Program volunteer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

While the 1-week workshop was great fun, and we learned a lot of neat banding techniques, that was not the best part. I have now met other young people with similar interests. They are great people. They are now my friends, and we will keep in touch.

Sarah Trefry
1998 Young Ornithologists' Workshop volunteer
Tofield, Alberta