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#1
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The Main Event--banding birds at Hazel Run, 24 May 2011
As mentioned in another thread, I was the high bidder in a silent auction fund-raiser for a local nature center (Beaver Creek Reserve, just outside of Fall Creek). After the trial run in March, the banders returned in late May for the Main Event.
The crew arrived at 7 and by 7:20, we were already netting birds. Here Augie is removing one of the first birds of the morning. The mist nets are so lightweight that they're nearly invisible. If you look closely at the image below, you can see some of the netting close to the pole, but the camera was not able to clearly resolve the netting that spreads over the whole right-hand side of this pic: Although most of the hummingbirds are able to detect and evade, we did have 9 that ended up in the nets. Since the crew is not licensed to band them, they were released. It was interesting watching them approach the nets, hover, back up and fly over the barrier. Occasionally, we'd see one sitting on the top edge of a net!
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#2
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They banded quite a variety of birds. Some were year-round residents, like this white-breasted nuthatch:
Others were migrants, like this handsome Baltimore oriole male: And some were less welcome migrants, like this very lucky brown-headed cowbird female. Brown-headed cowbirds are nest parasites--they lay their eggs in smaller birds' nests to have the host parents raise their young. Often, the cowbird young will push the other hatchlings or eggs out of the nest. This can really impact the number of small songbirds hatched from an area. For example--last year we had lots of chipping sparrows and a normal amount (for us) of cowbirds. A fair number of chipping sparrows were parasitized last summer and this year we have lots of cowbirds and very few chipping sparrows. Normally, cowbirds stuck to the plains, but human activities such as road building and farming, have opened up new territory for them. If they have a corridor (a power-line right of way in our case) they can extend far into the forest and parasitize new species that had never been reachable for them before. Why did I call this one lucky? This is the one species of native bird that the WI DNR allows people to dispatch because they have such a negative impact on other native birds. One female cowbird can parasitize maybe 70 nests in her lifetime. There was some discussion about whether to dispatch this one or release her. hazel was outvoted and the bird was released. Very lucky, indeed.
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#3
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Once a bird is captured, the species is determined and certain data on each individual is recorded.
Data collected includes species, date captured, age, measurement of the wing chord, and gender if it can be determined. Age determination can be difficult, as can gender. Age categories include hatch year (HY), after hatch year (AHY), second year (SY) and after second year (ASY). AHY is used for birds that don't have marked plumage changes after they molt into their adult feathers. SY is used in species like American goldfinches, where the feathers at the bend of the wing are paler in the second year than in subsequent years. ASY is used for birds like purple finch males, that don't get their purple coloring until after their second year. Gender can also be difficult to tell depending on the species so there are three categories: M, F, and U (for undetermined). In spring it's sometimes possible to determine the gender of birds such as chickadees by looking for a brood patch. The female's brood patch is a very extensive bald spot on the breast that can be detected by blowing lightly on the feathers. The male's is less extensive and not as bald. So we were able to determine gender at this banding by brood patch, where the chickadees banded at the end of March were all listed as U. Band is chosen according to size for each species, and the number is recorded before it's attached to the bird. Sometimes it's hard to make out the numbers: We have a leucistic purple finch in the area. He's quite distinctive. Leucism is a condition in some birds often referred to erroneously as 'partial albinism'. The birds aren't true albinos, but do have a defective pigment metabolism. 'Mr. Pink' was caught and banded on Tuesday, and our identification as a purple finch was confirmed after some discussion and examination by the banding crew.
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#4
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One of the fundraisers at the Reserve is an 'Adopt a Bird' program. When a bird is banded, a picture is taken and people can 'adopt' that bird with a donation. Here Larry is taking a picture of an indigo bunting for the 'Adopt a Bird' adoption board.
A newly-banded chipping sparrow shortly before release: And at release...
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#5
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We captured a lot of rose-breasted grosbeaks. The banding crew's record one-day total prior to this was 15 banded. They banded 64 here and didn't recapture any I saw five at the feeders this morning that had no band at all...so we missed a few.
Have a mentioned that we have a lot of rose-breasted grosbeaks here? Karen retrieves a grosbeak from the net: See the peachy color under the wing? This one is a female. The males have a rosy-pink patch there instead. Karen about to release a male rose-breasted grosbeak after banding.
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#6
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Banding yet another grosbeak:
A little disheveled after banding, but none the worse for wear: And a shot of the rosy underwing of a male:
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
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