~  Green Creek Wildlife Society ~

We do not inherit this earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children

Belted Kingfisher ~ Ceryle alcyon

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Welcome to the Green Creek Wildlife Society Website! 

We are a conservation and research organization based in NW Ohio. Founded by Tom Kashmer over 20 years ago we are highly involved in the area with research projects and educational programs year round.

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Summer Research Projects

Bank Swallow Banding 

- Members travel around NW Ohio to different quarries to band bank swallows that make their homes in the piles of lime and lime waste. Banding is usually from the beginning/middle of June 'til Mid July.

Update 10/07:

We started banding Bank Swallows at the Millersville quarry on June 23rd and finished on July 15th. We banded a total of 8 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, 1 Barn Swallow, and 610 Bank Swallows. We also recaptured 100 banded birds from previous years. The total number of birds handled was 719. At the beginning of every season my goal is to band 1,000 bank swallows. I got a late start because of the Arkansas trip and trying to catch up on work that I set aside while I was gone. 

What is Bird Banding?

This was the clubs first project over 20 years ago.     We started with about 20 boxes with the idea of repopulating Northwest Ohio with Bluebirds.  Many of the Bluebirds were wiped out with the winters of 1977 and 1978.  We have done what we set out to do.  At this time, we have the largest maintained Bluebird Trail in Ohio with over 600 boxes.  Each box is sponsored by an individual or group.  Click here for information on sponsoring a box.

Update 10/07:

One of these summers I’m going to concentrate on banding every Bluebird and Tree Swallow nestling. Over the past few years it’s been difficult because of the timing of Green Creek trips and my employment with the Park District and other research projects. I remember when the bluebird/tree swallow was my only research project and I devoted full time to that effort. The numbers over the years bears out that fact. We are still raising the same numbers of birds but I am not getting out to band near as many. What we need is another me……any takers out there? I could train someone to band birds, show them the locations of all our trails, and, basically, put them in charge of our bluebird/tree swallow project. Let me know……it’s very time consuming but very rewarding. 

Bluebirds – 101, Tree Swallows – 255. 

For problems or questions regarding this website contact Auriel Van Der Laar -  aurielvdl@yahoo.com
Last updated: June 07, 2008