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Newbury Park teengives up sleepto aid in study of local birds

G E N T L E T O U C H —Newbury Park High School senior Joelle Saute blows gently on a Wilson’s warbler to expose the belly while recording data on the bird at the Zuma Canyon bird-banding station April 11.

MULTISTEP PROCESS—Bird banding involves catching, studying and releasing small birds for the purpose of recording data that may hold clues about changes in the natural world. Above left, Joelle sets up a fi ne mist net used to catch her subjects near the Zuma Canyon bird-banding station in Malibu. Volunteers set up around 17 such nets each Saturday morning, when the birds are most active. Each one caught is recorded and a band is placed around its leg for tracking. Above, Joelle looks up information on a common yellowthroat. At left, Joelle’s father, Allen, joins in on the fun. Here the pair, on the way to check their nets, look up to try to identify a songbird. Said Joelle about her unusual early-morning pastime: “It’s kind of terrifying because they are so small and fragile, you don’t want to break it.”

By Carissa ThilgenSpecial to the Acorn

While many of her peers are fast asleep in their beds, Newbury Park teenager Joelle Saute has spent every other Saturday for WKH�SDVW�¿�YH�\HDUV� ULVLQJ�EHIRUH�the sun to conduct environmental research. The 17-year-old is a bird bander, and since 2010 she’s logged hundreds of volunteer hours at the Zuma Canyon bird-banding station in the Santa Monica Mountains, catching and tagging local birds and recording critical data that hold clues about changes in the natural world. “Being in high school , Saturday is supposed to be my day to sleep in,” the Newbury Park High School senior said. “But not with bird banding.” Clearly, Joelle doesn’t mind the predawn start time. She’s put in more than 650 hours on the research project operated by the National Park Service. There’s a reason she keeps rolling out of bed—and it’s not the free chips and doughnuts. “It’s so fantastic to be there at such an early hour in the morn-ing because it is so quiet . . . and you get to see the sunrise while you’re setting up the nets. It’s so magical,” she said. “You get to see things you don’t normally get to see during the day.” Things like wrentits, Audu-ERQ¶V�ZDUEOHUV�DQG�KRXVH�¿�QFKHV��up close and personal. The daughter of two teachers, Joelle grew up loving to learn and explore the outdoors. Her mom, Judy, is an elemen-tary school teacher in West Hills, while her dad, Allen, teaches KRUWLFXOWXUH�DQG�¿�HOG�HFRORJ\�DW�Sequoia Middle School. It was Joelle’s father who got her into bird banding when she was in seventh grade. Allen Saute, who’s been giv-ing lessons on birds since 1999, was at a workshop at the Western Foundation for Vertebrate Zool-RJ\� LQ�&DPDULOOR�ZKHQ� KH�¿�UVW�heard of the bird-banding work going on in Zuma Canyon. “I’ve always been into sci-ence, so he asked me if I wanted to go (with him) and I said yes,” Joelle said. The two have been hooked ever since. Starting as novices, they learned the art of bird band-ing together. “I still remember that first time when Joelle saw a bird in the net up close. She was mes-merized. And the rest of the day

she was like a sponge, learning as much as she could,” Saute said, adding that she picked up some of the procedures more quickly than he did. “She is now one of the top banders.”

What is bird banding? Not to be confused with a birder, bird banders don’t just

watch birds: They catch them—very carefully. “It’s kind of terrifying because they are so small and fragile, you don’t want to break it,” Joelle VDLG��UHFDOOLQJ�KHU�¿�UVW�WLPH�KROG�LQJ�D�¿�GJHW\�ELUG� “But after a while you learn the standard amount of pressure

you should be applying. It was a really cool feeling.” The project is overseen by master bander Walter Sakai, a Thousand Oaks resident and Santa Monica College biology professor who’s been banding birds for more than 20 years, at Zuma Canyon as well as other

Southern California stations. Banders capture birds using a variety of techniques, Sakai said.$W�=XPD�&DQ\RQ� WKH\� XVH�¿�QH�mist nets. Every other Saturday, barring bad weather, a group of banders meets at dawn to set up the nets off trail in the dense chaparral.

Photos by MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

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Throughout the shift, which ends around noon, the banders make periodic runs to check the nets for birds. It’s when a bird flies into the net that the hard work—and Joelle’s favorite part—begins: extracting the creature. She likens LW�WR�¿�JXULQJ�RXW�D�SX]]OH� “It’s very technical and it’s kind of a challenge for your brain. You have to look at the bird and see what parts are stuck,” she said. “You feel so accomplished when you get it out of the net.” Once the bird is untangled, the banders document the type of species captured, when and where it was found, its age and sex, and if it’s breeding or has any ticks. A numbered metal ring is then placed around its leg so if it is recaptured, new data can be compared to the old. The infor-mation collected is stored in a national database that is used to inventory and monitor local bird populations, migration patterns and longevity. Saute said his daughter has the dexterity and analytical skills as well as the patience and heart needed to be a good bander, pro-tecting the birds while collecting information. Sakai agreed. “Joelle’s appreciation and love RI�WKH�HQYLURQPHQW�LV�UHÀ�HFWHG�LQ�the care she exhibits as she bands the birds,” he said. The teen cares because she un-derstands how important her work is with these “indicator species.” “Because they are such a fragile species, changes in the environment affect them pretty noticeably,” Joelle said. “We can see how our presence is affecting the nature around us.”

Spreading her wings Just 13 when she started, Joelle has grown considerably since her early banding days. She’s learned

a lot about birds, of course, but she’s also matured and become D�PRUH�FRQ¿�GHQW� FRPPXQLFDWRU��ably explaining bird banding to new volunteers, college students who visit the station and random hikers passing through. This experience of teaching RWKHUV� UHDI¿�UPHG�KHU� GHVLUH� WR�follow in the footsteps of her parents. When she goes to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall, she will study mathematics with the goal of becoming a high school math teacher.

But for her proud father, the biggest takeaway is the memories. “You really get to know a person when you wake up before sunrise and spend six to eight hours working together,” he said. ³:KHQ�VKH�¿�UVW�VWDUWHG��ZH�ZRXOG�hold hands and sing songs when we walked down the trails to the nets. “Now we talk about her dreams, career and excitement of becoming an adult.” Like the birds she releases from the nets, Joelle is ready to VSUHDG�KHU�ZLQJV�DQG�À�\�

Photos by MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

BIRD BUDDY—Above, Joelle prepares to release the Wilson’s warbler back into the wild after applying its band. Top left, she inspects the wings of a Lincoln sparrow; top right, she uses a scale to weigh the Wilson’s warbler.

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