This is Bird Note.

Masonville Cove in South Baltimore is a special place to study birds.

Once a dumping ground for sediment dredged from the harbor,

the cove is not a popular urban wildlife refuge,

says ecologist Sharon Dorsey.

And we have seen a return of wildlife, not just mammals, foxes, otters, but a lot of bird species.

Sharon is part of a licensed research team that's monitoring bird populations at the

cove with a scientific catch and release technique called bird banding.

Sharon weighs and measures the captured birds,

then fits each with a uniquely numbered metal band.

It's like a bracelet that they'll wear for the rest of their lives.

That info is recorded in a global database.

So if the banded bird is encountered at another station,

researchers will know that it spent part of its life in Baltimore.

And that's important. Because not many

stations are set up in urban environments. We are essentially trying to describe what birds are doing

in these urban spaces. You don't think that they would thrive, but in fact, they find food and

mates and other things

for their survival.

Sharon says that over time, this data can reveal which species take refuge at Masonville

Cove and how habitat restoration benefits urban birds.

This is Black Birders Week.

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