Scientific Program

Movement ecology of South American birds: causes and consequences

Organizers: Pablo A. E. Alarcón & Maricel Graña Grilli (Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación, INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue-CONICET), Bariloche, Argentina)

1. Movement ecology of birds: an introduction. Pablo A. E. Alarcón & Maricel Graña Grilli. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación – INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET).
2. Movement ecology and health conditions of Brown skuas throughout their breeding period. Maricel Graña Grilli & Andrés Ibáñez. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación – INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET).
3. Fly, walk or dive: which is more costly in energy terms? The Imperial Shag like study model. Agustina Gómez-Laich, Rory P. Wilson, Nicolás Prandoni & Flavio Quintana. IBIOMAR-CENPAT.
4. Cognitive Ecology in brood parasites: prospecting host nests during the breeding season. Romina C. Scardamaglia & Juan C. Reboreda. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución & IEGEBA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
5. The role of environmental variables in habitat selection of the Southern Giant Petrel. Gabriela S. Blanco, Noelia Sánchez-Carnero, Juan Pablo Pisoni & Flavio Quintana. IBIOMAR-CENPAT.
6. Movement ecology applied to the conservation of threatened birds. Santiago Zuluaga. Centro para el Estudio y Conservación de las Aves Rapaces en Argentina (CECARA-UNLPam). Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de la Pampa (INCITAP-CONICET).
7. Moving energy from sea to land: historical changes in marine subsidies modify modern foraging habits of the Andean Condor. Sergio A. Lambertucci. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación – INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue-CONICET).
8. Analytical toolbox for the study of movement ecology of birds. Pablo A. E. Alarcón & Agustina di Virgilio. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación – INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET).
9. General discussion. Pablo A. E. Alarcón & Maricel Graña Grilli. Grupo de Investigaciones en Biología de la Conservación- INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue – CONICET).

Can the International Shorebird Survey play a bigger role in South American shorebird conservation?

Organizers: Juliana Bosi de Almeida (SAVE Brasil) & Arne Lesterhuis (Manomet Inc.)

1. Opening; introduction to ISS, and hemispheric conservation initiatives. Juliana Bosi de Almeida. SAVE Brasil.
2. History of the International Shorebird Survey (ISS). Brad Winn. Manomet, Inc.
3. Examples of the use of citizen science in bird conservation in Brazil. Ana Paula Giorgi. SAVE Prazil.
4. ISS in South American countries; status and opportunities. Arne Lesterhuis. Manomet Inc.
5. The need for and importance of shorebird data from a Brazilian perspective. Danielle Paludo. EMAVE/ICMBio.
6. Examples of use of ISS data for shorebird conservation in North America. Juliana Bosi de Almeida. SAVE Brasil.
7. Joining the ISS network: monitoring protocol, joys of shorebird ID and estimation practice. Arne Lesterhuis. Manomet Inc.
8. Discussion and closing words. Juliana Bosi de Almeida and Arne Lesterhuis.

Genomic advances in Neotropical ornithology: phylogenomics, population genomics and genotype/phenotype associations

Organizer: Leonardo Campagna (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Morning Session: Phylogenomics and population genomics

1. Introduction to various genomic methods. Leonardo Campagna. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
2. Hybrid zones and avian diversification in Amazonia: a genomic perspective. A. Aleixo. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.
3. Using Phylogenomics to uncover Thrushes’ Global Radiation. R. Batista, U. Olsson, T. Hofmann, A. Aleixo, C. Ribas, A. Antonelli. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.
4. Recent speciation in the (mostly) flightless steamer ducks. L. Campagna, K. G. McCracken, I. J. Lovette. Cornell University.
5. A comprehensive species-level phylogeny of suboscine birds using genomescale data. G. Bravo. Harvard University.
6. A philogenomic study to unveil ancient contacts between the Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest. C. Pinto de Assis Bezerra, F. Sarubbi Raposo do Amaral, A. Aleixo, C. Miyaki. University of Sao Paolo.
7. The biogeography of the Andean-Atlantic forests connection: a multilocus study with passerines. Gustavo Sebastián Cabanne et al. Museo Argentino De Ciencias Naturales.
8. Phylogeography and genomic adaptation of penguins across a wide latitudinal distribution from the Tropics to Antarctica. J. Vianna et al. Pontificia Universidad Católica de
   Chile.
9. Is the Parana River a geographic barrier that promotes forest bird speciation? C. Kopuchian, L. Campagna, A. S. Di Giacomo, D. A. Lijtmaer, G. S. Cabanne, N. C. García, P. L. Tubaro. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral.

Afternoon Session: Genotype/phenotype associations

1. Elucidating the genomic and molecular underpinnings of high-altitude adaptation in Andean waterfowl species. A. M. Graham, K. G. McCracken. University of Miami.
2. Making two Andean hummingbirds species: genome divergence and structural coloration. C. Palacios, L. Campagna. C. D. Cadena. Universidad de los Andes.
3. Speciation by loss of migration in the partially migratory Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana). V. Gómez-Bahamón, C. Y. Miyaki, S. Restrepo, A. E. Jahn, C. D. Cadena. Universidad de los Andes.
4. Mito-nuclear discordance in the evolutionary history of a widespread passerine (Troglodytes aedon). D. A. Lijtmaer, C. Kopuchian, P. L. Tubaro, L. Campagna. Museo Argentino De
   Ciencias Naturales.
5. Genomic phylogeography of the White Crowned Manakin (Aves: Pipridae) illuminates cryptic differentiation and extreme song evolution. J. S. Berv, L. Campagna, T. Feo, C. Ribas, R. O. Prum, I. Lovette. Cornell University.
6. General Summary. G. S. Cabanne & L. Campagna.

History, recent advances, and future directions in the study of bird migration in South America

Organizers: Víctor R. Cueto (Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónicas CONICET – Univ. Nacional de la Patagonia SJB, Argentina) & André C. Guaraldo (Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Ornitologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brasil)

1. The WikiAves Platform as a citizen-science tool for studying bird migration in Brazil. Stephanie Caroline Schubert; Tonelli Manica Lilian; André de Camargo Guaraldo.
2. National banding scheme of Brazil: linking banders and bird conservation across the country. Patricia Pereira Serafini. CEMAVE – Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Aves Silvestres.
3. Unravelling the major gap for Hooded Grebe conservation: migration and movements. Ignacio Roesler, Laura Fasola, María Emilia Giusti, Lucía Martín, Andrés de Miguel & Juan Carlos Reboreda. IEGEBA-CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires.
4. How seasonality in the Southern Hemisphere affects migration of austral migrant Tyrannus savana. Maggie MacPherson. Tulane University.
5. Altitudinal migration of a Passerine in the Atlantic Forest: a complex pattern arises. André C. Guaraldo & Juliane C. Bczuska. UFPR – Universidade Federal do Paraná.
6. Intra-tropical bird migration research in the 21^st Century: New insights about a complex system. Alex E. Jahn. Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

The utility of citizen science data for bird conservation across the Americas

Organizers: Lucas DeGroote (Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History), Erika Hingst-Zaher (Instituto Butantan), and Ignacio Roesler (IEGEBA-CONICET. FCEN-UBA. Programa Patagonia, Aves Argentinas)

1. Citizen Science as a tool for monitoring birds in urbanized areas. Karlla Barbosa. UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) and SAVE Brasil.
2. Using citizen scientist data to elucidate drivers of urban bird-window collisions. Luke DeGroote. Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
3. Doraditos and tyrannulets: cryptic species challenge citizen science in South America. Fabricio Gorleri. Aves Argentinas.
4. Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) migration revealed using citizen science data. Erika Hingst-Zaher. Instituto Butantan.
5. Citizen science reveals widespread impacts on birds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Erik Johnson. Audubon Louisiana.
6. Using a citizen science database to understand Biogeographical patterns of the Atlantic Forest. Luciano Moreira Lima. Instituto Butantan.
7. Integrating citizen science and field monitoring to evaluate threatened birds in Austral Patagonia. Ignacio Roesler. IEGEBA-CONICET. FCEN-UBA. Programa Patagonia, Aves Argentinas.
8. Using citizen science data to predict distributional responses of birds to climate and landcover. Matthew B. Shumar, Stephen N. Matthews, Paul G. Rodewald. Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative, The Ohio State University, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Mixed species flocks of birds: ecology and evolution

Organizers: Lia Nahomi Kajiki (Animal Behavior Lab, Department of Zoology, Universidade de Brasília), Flavia Montaño-Centellas (Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida), Giselle Mangini (Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA), and Gabriel J. Colorado (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)

1. Not so stable: variation in mixed species flocks of birds in a lowland Amazonian forest. Lia Nahomi Kajiki. Universidade de Brasília.
2. Mixed species flocks along an elevational gradient in the Bolivian Andes: a network perspective. Flavia Montaño-Centellas. University of Florida.
3. Mixed species flocks of birds as strategy: Behavior and seasonality in Yungas Foothill of North-West, Argentina. Giselle Mangini. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA.
4. Response of mixed-species flocks to habitat alteration and deforestation in the Andes. Gabriel J. Colorado. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
5. Composition and structure of the mixed-species flocks along the latitudinal gradient of the subtropical montane forest of the Yungas, Argentina.  María Elisa Fanjul. Universidad Nacional de Tucuman.
6. Flocking together, from the Amazon to the high Andes.  Jenny Munoz. The University of British Columbia.

Applied statistics for ornithological studies: current developments and insights

Organizer: Walter S. Svagelj (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata CONICET)

1. Better exploration of data to identify common statistical problems. Mariano Codesido. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)‐CONICET, CABA.
2. Methods to disentangle patterns and processes in metacommunity ecology. Mariela V. Lacoretz. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)‐CONICET, CABA.
3. Advocating better habitat use models in birds: How to choose the right one in the light of a diversity of approaches? Facundo X. Palacio. Sección Ornitología, División Zoología Vertebrados, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP).
4. The role of the likelihood in model selection and multimodel inference. Mariela Sued. Instituto de Cálculo (IC), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)‐CONICET, CABA.
5. Avian growth modeling: past, present and future. Walter S. Svagelj. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP)‐CONICET.

Occupancy Modeling

Organizers: Andrea P. Goijman (Instituto de Recursos Biológicos, CIRN, CNIA-INTA, Argentina),Jaime N. Bernardos (EEA Guillermo Covas, La Pampa, INTA, Argentina), Jeffrey J. Thompson (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) and Guyra Paraguay, Paraguay).

Contact: goijman.andrea@inta.gob.ar

Dates: August 7 and 8, 2017 (2 days)

Registration fee: U$S 35

Payment link: coming soon

Summary of objectives: The objective of the course is to provide a theoretical and applied foundation of occupancy modeling to estimate the occurrence of species and communities in relation to environmental factors while accounting for imperfect detection.

Requirements: Minimal requirements are some comprehension on R language and a personal computer. The course will be taught in Spanish.

Syllabus of topics to be covered: Statistics for ecology overview. Model selection and averaging. Intro to occupancy estimation and imperfect detection. Single season occupancy. Unmarked package for occupancy analyses. Occupancy and detection covariates. Study design considerations. Multiple season occupancy. Advanced models: abundance, two species, camera trapping, others. Community modeling overview. We will provide an overview of the range of occupancy models currently available. We will use the R package unmarked, offering hands on experience with actual bird monitoring data. Also additional approaches using a Bayesian modeling framework will be discussed for community and more complex analyses.

warbleR: a package for streamlined bioacoustic analyses in R

Organizers: Marcelo Araya-Salas (Macaulay Library and Bioacoustics Research Program, Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University); Grace Smith-Vidaurre (Department of Biology, New Mexico State University).

Date: August 7, 2017 (1 day)

Registration fee: free

Language: English and Spanish

Summary of objectives: The objective of the workshops is to present the package warbleR as a tool to assist rigorous bioacoustic research in the open-source R environment.
Requirements: Workshop attendees should have a personal laptop or access to one, and ideally have a background or an interest in bioacoustics (being an expert in this field is not necessary). Previous experience with programming (ideally R) is helpful but not necessary.

Syllabus of topics to be covered: Brief introduction to why we should use R, bioacoustics packages in R, overview of warbleR workflow (all other sessions will be a detailed walk-through of the warbleR workflow). Downloading recordings and metadata from Xeno-Canto repository, creating long spectrograms and catalogs for visual classification. Methods for detecting signals within recordings and quality control, filtering recordings by signal to noise ratio, comparing methods for quantitative analyses. Performing quantitative analyses to classify signals, visualizing final classification, open-source resources for learning R independently.

1^st Americas Workshop on Bird Tracking and Monitoring

Organizer: Catalina Amaya-Perilla (MSc); Lotek Wireless Inc.

Date: August 7, 2017 (1 day)

Registration fee: Free

Requirements: Attendees should bring a notebook with Windows OS, and their lunch. The language of the workshop will depend on the registered participants. It can be taught in English or Spanish.

Summary of objectives & Syllabus of topics to be covered: Introduction to bird tracking technologies and methods. Attachment methods. Explanation of VHF and archival tracking: what it is, pros and cons, for what is used, and case studies. Explanation of Argos and GPS tracking: what it is, pros and cons, for what is used, and case studies. Field component: VHF tracking (GPS tracking),.VHF tracking exercise while taking GPS data. GPS data analysis. People will analyze their data on PinPoint Host (provided on a Lotek USB) and Google Earth.

Harnessing birds with transmitters and an introduction to data analysis

Organizers: Santiago Zuluaga, Juan Manuel Grande and Jose Hernan Sarasola, Centro para el Estudio y Conservación de las Aves Rapaces en Argentina (CECARA)

Date: August 8, 2017 (1 day)

Registration fee: U$S30

Summary of objectives: We will cover the process of attaching transmitters to birds, particularly large-body species such as raptors, from general insights of the bird’s well-being to specific analyses techniques to get home range sizes using GIS and R softwares. Half day will be hands-on, involving how to make a backpack-style harness, and using that harness to attach a transmitter to a bird skin. We will also discuss the utility of other attachment techniques (i.e tailmount, patagial) and conduct some data management and analyses exercises. The goal of this workshop is to contribute to building skills in the scientific community of the Neotropical region for application, management, correct fixing and analyses of data using telemetry techniques. We hope this workshop will foster the start of new telemetry studies in birds in the region.

Requirements: People attending the workshop must bring their own notebooks. The course will be taught in Spanish.
Syllabus of topics to be covered: Introduction to methods, techniques and experiences. Instructions for building the harness. Building and harnessing the transmitter. Introduction to methods and analyses techniques. Data processing and analyzing to obtain birds home ranges and classification of animal movement behavior..

The challenges of meaningful analysis of nesting success and nest predation risk and their implications for population dynamics across latitudes.

Organizer: James J. Roper, Universidade Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brasil. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecoloogia de Ecossistemas.

Date: August 8, 2017

Contact: jjroper@gmail.com

Registration fee: 15 U$S

Payment link: Paypal (Please enter U$S 15)

Summary of objectives: We will discuss the ideas about analysis of nesting success and nest predation risk and their implications for population dynamics across latitudes. In this workshop, we will talk about 1) When is nest predation a problem? 2) Why we need to know more than just nest predation rate. 3) How to study nesting success in a meaningful, comparative way. And the bigger issues that come as a consequence of these ideas, that is, 4) Life history patterns in South America are not paradigmatic (latitudinal) – local and regional, intra- and interspecific variation are all important as well.

Requirements: People attending the workshop can bring their own notebooks for use, but sets of data for some hands-on applications, scripts for R (for those that might want them) and some analyses to explain the data will be provided. They should install R, and all the packages associated with BiodiversityR, Rcmdr, Vegan, Ade (ade4, ade4TKGUI and their suggested packages), and adehabitat (and related). The course can be taught in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Syllabus of topics to be covered: 1. What are the latitudinal patterns of nesting success, clutch size and are they really important or are they a consequence of the way we have looked at the problem? I will present the problem, then discuss new ideas I and collaborators are developing in subtropical and tropical Brazil. 2. Starting at the beginning. When is nest predation important? Is importance really correlated with nest predation rate? Why or why not. How experiments may inform us, or mislead us, on this topic. 3. How can we monitor birds to know when nest predation is an issue. Here we will talk about basic field methods to really find the information we need to be able to use nesting success to better understand population dynamics. 4. What are the breeding patterns that are common to South America? Do they depend more on latitude, longitude, phylogeny, topography or climate? How can we better understand this issue in the field? 5. If life-history patterns are not paradigmatic, and they are very flexible locally, regionally and by phylogenetic group, what are we missing? Avenues of further research.

How to talk about Science with non-scientists?

Organizer: Ileyne Tenório Lopes, Grey-breasted Parakeet Project – NGO AQUASIS, Fortaleza, Ceará.

Dates: 8 August

Registration fee: $30 USD

Payment link: Paypal

Summary of objectives: The objective of this course is to invite participants to think about how important it is to make scientific knowledge available to society in general. In order to make scientific studies understandable to the general public we need to transform our complex data into a language that can be read and heard by everyone. This is environmental education, and it has a primary role in the conservation of endangered species and habitats. During this course we will show examples about how these actions can help environmental conservation in short and long terms and practice different ways to transform scientific information in good awareness campaigns.

Requirements: The course can be taught in Portuguese and Spanish (Depending on the number of participants we can divide it in two classes)

Syllabus of topics to be covered: To achieve these goals, we will discuss essential issues, such as choosing the target audience (teachers, land owners, politicians, etc.), the format (video, comic, book, etc), the most appropriate language (formal, informal), the means of dissemination (printed, on-line), distribution (free, paid), planning the activities, writing texts, calculating costs, founding the project, and how to spread the ideas in events, meetings, lectures.

Genomics & Bioinformatics

Organizers: Scott V. Edwards, Timothy Sackton, Allison Shultz and Gustavo Bravo, (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, US), Cecilia Kopuchian, (CECOAL-CONICET, Argentina)

Dates: 6-8 August (3 days)

Registration fee: Free. This workshop is supported by the “Sistema Nacional de Datos Genómicos” from Argentina (MINCYT). There are some travel grants (inside rgentina) for attendees of this workshop. For inscription, send an email before 12 of July to ckopuchian@gmail.com with your name, DNI/Passport number and your position. Travel grant applicants should also send a reduced CV and a short letter of interest in this workshop and why is important for your research or work.

Summary of objectives: Each student should bring his own laptop for practical classes. The objective of this workshop is for students to learn about the different genomic tools available to apply to their own research projects. The course will be taught in English and Spanish.

Requirements: Participants are strongly recommended to bring a laptop, as large sections of the workshop will be hands on. Linux and macs strongly preferred. Some previous experience with R or the linux command line would be helpful, but not required. We will provide software and example datasets; participants should download and install everything prior to the workshop. Links will be provided two weeks prior to the workshop.

Syllabus of topics to be covered: Introduction to genomic methods and marker types. Marker types and what can be done with them: RAD-seq, ultraconserved elements (UCEs), and whole-genome methods. Overview of tools for genomic analysis. Introduction to the UNIX command line. RAD-seq. Overview of RAD techniques. Analysis approaches: Reference genome based, Non-reference based, Quality checks on SNP data. Using command line tools to understand variant call files:Quality checks, Filtering. Population genetics in R. Introduction to R. Tools for analysis of SNP data (adagenet). Principal component analysis and related methods in R. Sequence-capture. Introduction to sequence capture methods and marker types. Using the PHYLUCE pipeline for UCE data. Preprocessing and quality checks. Building alignments. Building phylogenies with species tree methods. Whole-genome approaches. Introduction to whole genome methods: Genome assembly, Transcriptome assembly. Population resequencing: Mapping, filtering and SNP calling. Using genomic data. Population genomics with ANGSD and NGSTools. Argentinean genomic research and resources

Introduction to GIS and Ecological Niche Modeling for use of Bird Databases

Organizers: Carlos De Angelo (IBS-CONICET); Javier Nori (UNC-CONICET); John Fitzpatrick (Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA), Adrián S. Di Giacomo (Aves Argentinas and CECOAL-CONICET).

Dates: 12-14 August (3 days)

Registration fee: Free

Summary of objectives: The objective is to train participants in the use of basic tools to take advantage of the increasing information available through open-access biological datasets (such eBird, GBIF, etc). We hope to offer a current picture of the available biological datasets and the importance of citizen science, and we will train students in basic-GIS tools (Geographical Information System), with an emphasis on how to apply them for designing research projects and for the management of natural resources that require Ecological Niche Modeling (ENM).

Requirements: Each student should bring his own laptop for practical classes. The course will be taught in Spanish.

Syllabus of topics to be covered: Introduction to open access biological datasets. The Argentinean National System of Biological Data and other open access data portals. Data from specimens and observational data. E-Bird project at Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Impact of citizen Science on the advancement of biodiversity knowledge. Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Geographical Data Administration and Management. Use of ArcMap, ArcCatalog and ArcToolbox in ArcGIS 10.2, and use of free software. Understanding the kinds of data used in GIS (ArcGIS and free software). Basic understanding of data projection between coordinate systems. Selection and query of characteristics and data. Labeling of data and working with notes. Creation of layer-files. Edition and management of tables. Maps creation and export. Introduction to modeling with BIOCLIM and MAXENT. Niche concept. What are we modeling? Assumptions of the potential distribution models. Selection of occurrence records. Selection of environmental variables. Correction of simple bias. Adjustment of model parameters. Validation of models. Applications of models in modeling distribution for endangered species studies and conservation areas, invasive species, prediction of past and present distribution change.

Advanced Bird Banding and Molt Techniques Workshop (Field technique workshop)

Organizers: Luciano Moreira Lima (Instituto Butantan – Bird Observatory), Ian Ausprey* (Association of Field Ornithologists, University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History); Luke DeGroote* (Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History); Erik Johnson* (National Audubon and Louisiana State University); Felicity Newell (University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History); Guillermo Gil (CIES, DRNEA / APN). *Trainers with the North American Banding Council (NABC).

Dates: 12-16 August (5 days)

Registration fee: $200 USD for Latin Americans, $300 USD for North Americans & Europeans. Includes lodging, food and transportation to the field site. Specific personal insurance, which is required to work within the National Park, needs to be hired locally, and participants should pay for this separately, upon arrival to the meeting ($6-8 USD).

Payment link: Paypal

Summary of objectives: To build the capacity of Latin American ornithologists using bird banding techniques through hands-on field instruction and classroom activities, with an emphasis on ageing and sexing techniques through molt patterns.

Requirements: The workshop will be held in the Iguazu National Park with the Centro de Investigaciones Ecológicas Subtropicales (Co-Organizing Institution).

Syllabus of topics to be covered: Banding Ethics (NABC Banders Code of Ethics; Argentinean Code of Ethics; Brazilian Code of Ethics). Why is bird banding an appropriate tool for research and monitoring? Examples from the literature and case studies. Running a Banding Station (Equipment: Required tools and maintenance, Organization: How to maintain an organized banding table, Data quality and control: Tips for making data sheets; cross-checking data collection; maintaining databases; reporting bands/data to the authorities, Training: How to facilitate volunteer participation; advice for training new and current staff; Permits: Governmental requirements and permitting processes). Mist Net Use (Care and use of mist nets: Installation of mist nets in the field; storage and repair of mist nets; Bird extraction techniques: Body grasp and feet first methods; advice for difficult extractions). Bird Handling (Bird Bags: Tips for size and fabric; cleaning; Handling grips: Banders, photographers, ice cream cone grips; Banding: How to select correct band sizes; placement of band on tarsus; color bands; Measurements: Wing, tarsus, bill, mass, etc.). Identification, Ageing, and Sexing (Identification: Resources for identifying birds in the hand; Breeding characteristics: Cloacal protuberance and brood patch; Skull ossification: Ossification patterns and process; Plumages and molt: Molt strategies and their application to ageing birds; using plumage to sex birds). Bird Safety (Signs of stress; First aid). State-of-the-art: Opportunities and challenges for scientific bird banding in Argentina and Brazil.

Languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese

Wildlife Acoustics Passive Acoustic Monitoring Workshop

Acoustic recorders provide a non-invasive and cost-effective technique to assess species biodiversity within a region. This will be a hands-on workshop based on the Song Meter SM4 family. Participants will learn how to set up the SM4 recorder to record as well as helpful deployment tips and how to configure multiple units quickly. We recommend you download the free Song Meter SM4 Configurator at https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/download/song-meter-configurators. Limited to 20. RSVP required—E-mail sales2017@wildlifeacoustics.com with the subject line “Iguazu Workshop”