More than a few ornithologists determine their career while under the careful tutelage of an experienced and patient bander. Also, the system lends itself to public demonstrations of field work with migratory birds, meeting outreach and education needs along with monitoring and research. The chief disadvantage of MAPS involves problems with small numbers of captures in some habitat types. This problem should be ameliorated to some extent by analyzing data from captures over a larger scale. A research project will have a different set of objectives than a monitoring or outreach project.
Cost is nearly always a consideration too.
It is always a good idea to discuss potential methods with those investigators currently using them and perhaps visit a site where the methods are being used. It is perhaps human nature to consider one approach superior and to reject the other approaches based on the above criteria. A cautionary note also is in order. P otential investigators need to be aware of problems associated with estimation of demographic parameters. Survival estimation is problematic because of the tendency of long-distance migrants to disperse far from the site where they were first captured.