~Karma~ Favorites

From makeupanid:

I started out at TBO by walking through the Park taking pics of Fall (Oct/Nov 2005). I met a fellow who was banding birds and invited me to watch, and take pics, so I did. He was there every Saturday I went back the next Saturday and then didn't see him again til Easter of this year.

Easter Monday I was walking through the Park and met him with a Winter Wren. This was really the start of it, I started coming more often, learned how to put up the mist nets, the nets where we catch the birds, how to put the bands on, check for fat, take wing measurements and identify and sex the birds. You identify and sex birds, by looking closely at the wings (hence all the wing pics) and use a specific book called Pyles Indentification Guild to North American passerines.

I am now learning to extract birds from the net and that really is the hardest part, you have to stay calm and logical and not panic while pulling strands of nylon off a little tiny bird. But I'm learning.....I never intended to become a bird bander, but it seems I will be.

I go out every weekend, and take vacation days to do it, whenever I can with my trainer, who is qualified to band passerines and herons, and waterfowl, and shorebirds. You have to qualify for the different species. You must apprentice with an experienced bander and then pass a test in front of two banders.

Banding is important for tracking migration and the health of birds. We can learn a lot from our little feathered friends this way.