Songbirds are captured, examined and banded in late summer and fall at Kiptopeke State Park. Spring banding has taken place at Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and First Landing State Park. The fall station is the second longest running station of its kind in North America and has examined nearly a third of a million birds. Such long-term monitoring is essential to understanding the health of birds, population changes, and migration dynamics. A chickadee study is also underway. (See article in BIRDING magazine, March/April 2008)   As part of the spring migration work at First landing State Park, 80 Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes were erected in 2006, which will be monitored for this species of special concern.