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NO SOUND
Tray: We've got mist nets, I guess they are about thirty-five, thirty-six feet wide.
And they are essentially just nylon nets,
that are meant to trap the birds, they're thin enough that the birds
aren't going to be able to see them particularly well.
Kristina: Oh it's a little warbler.
Hi baby, how are you doing huh? Oh that was too easy.
Alright this here is a hooded warbler.
It's a pretty little bird. I don't know if it's a female or a hatch year right now. I can't tell.
Here you go. Got it. MUSIC
Paul: Does he show any signs of molting?
VO: Paul Porneluzi is one of three principle
investigators on the MOFEP bird project.
He has eleven years of experience with MOFEP interns.
It' s his job to direct the field staff, and to make sure that the data collected
will be useful for generations to come.
PAUL: So when they come back for their second breeding season....
Paul: The bird project is designed at looking at the impacts of forestry on the birds.
The overall MOFEP project is interested in looking at how two types
of forestry effect the ecosystem.
So we are interested in seeing how large clear cuts compare
to the small group selection cuts in terms of affecting the abundance of birds
and especially the reproductive success of the birds.
VO: One of the major thrusts of the bird project has been research
into neotropical migrants.
Neotropical migrants are birds that winter in Central and
South America and spend their summers here in North America.
And summer is the breeding season for these birds
so the condition of the forest habitat they live in is critical to their survival.
Paul: There has been some concern about the populations
of neotropical migrants as a group.
There was some evidence in the eighties and early nineties
that these birds as a group were declining.
We're they declining because of something that was happening on their wintering grounds?
Because of tropical deforestation?
Or was it because of impacts on the breeding grounds?
In fact some of those declines may have been the result of a long term drought
in the eighties.
MUSIC
PAUL: We've been working now for eleven years on the bird project alone.
We've had over 250 interns over those years.
This is very physical and hard work and it takes young people to be able to do it.
To get up early in the morning, and they do it with enthusiasm.
It's very rewarding to me because on multiple occasions
I hear students say, you know, this is great.
This is the best job I've ever had...to go hike in the woods all day long
and then count birds and listen to birds, they really do enjoy it.
V.O. And eventually over the course of a century,
the collected data will help answer the question
what is best for our forests?