We are fortunate to get a nice variety of birds to our small backyard where we have some feeders, lots of brush, and the river. Here are a few visitors from the last two weeks.
Some of our daily visitors, wanted or not, are Rock Doves – better known as pigeons.
We have noticed an increase in the need for the expensive sunflower hearts and discovered one significant reason.
While staying at Galveston Beach State Park on the way home, we walked the beach several times seeing hundreds of shorebirds — mostly peeps — but a number of Ruddy Turnstones, Willets, and Laughing Gulls as well. Here are some of the peeps that I saw one evening.
Sanderlings are fun to watch as they run back and forth with the waves.
Who’s the guy in the mirror?
A banded Piping Plover — did not see the bands until processing the photo.
A Willet and Sanderling for comparison.
These tiny shorebirds, often in big skittish flocks, are a joy to watch, especially when you know that you won’t see them again until this summer in New England.
Yesterday morning, Mary and I dropped in at a public bird banding demonstration at North Branch Nature Center led by Director Chip Darmstadt. Jen and Mac came a bit later and were fortunate to see a rather rare Yellow-billed Cuckoo — not caught but just hanging out in the area. I had seen banding several times but Mary had not and we both we enthralled by the one bird we saw banded and released. Here are some shots — a young birder, experienced in banding, handled this one with guidance from Chip.
A young birder retrieves a bird from the bag in which it is held after capture.
It is a feisty young Grey Catbird
A volunteer records information on each bird as it is examined. The data is sent to the Institute for Bird Populations.
The bird is carefully examined. The brownish fuzz under the tail tells Chip that this is a hatch year bird.
Banding rings and a sizing tool.
One of the last steps is to weigh the bird.
This guy, who watched intently, just found out he’s going to get to release the catbird.
Not a great release shot but there goes the young catbird, no worse for wear, and now part of an extensive database. Perhaps we’ll trap him next year and read his band – or next week.
If you have an opportunity to observe banding, I highly recommend it. You not only learn about the process and how to handle birds, but you also get a better appreciation of all the research work that is being done to track and monitor our avian friends. Good birding.
Each type of band is made in many different sizes so that every bird has a suitable size band available for use by banders. Photo courtesy of Diane Benyus
I monitor the Facebook page of the Anne Arundel (MD) Birding& Bird Club and just saw a post from a member noting that she had seen this banded bird and read the tag number. The group moderator suggested that she report it and gave the link information. Since I know little about the subject, I decided to check it out. (I first observed banding at the North Branch Nature Center and am intrigued about how some birders are great at spotting bands.)
Reporting a bird with a Federal Band or Color MarkerPLEASE NOTE: If the band has the letters “AU”, “IF”, “CU” “NPA” or “IPB” it is probably a captive pigeon band. Please do not report captive pigeon bands to the BBL, we do not keep a database of these birds. You can find more information at: http://www.pigeon.org/lostbirdinfo.htm When you submit a report, we will provide you the details about when and where the bird was originally marked. A copy of your report will be provided to the researcher who originally applied the band and/or marker. Your report will be added to a database maintained cooperatively by the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory and Canadian Wildlife Service, Bird Banding Office. This database contains more than 4 million band encounter records that document movements, longevity, and sources of mortality for North America’s migratory birds. This information is used to monitor populations, set hunting regulations, restore endangered species, study effects of environmental contaminants, and address such issues as Avian Influenza, bird hazards at airports, and crop depredations. |
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On November 19th, Randy Schmidt of The Vermont Bird Place in Manchester Center, VT, reported a phone call from a customer who was worrying about a hummingbird who was still hanging around her feeder (in East Arlington.) Randy posted the information on VTBird and reported that he thought it was a Rufous Hummingbird. This elicited a number of posts about identification and the hopes that a bander could visit and identify the bird. It created a lot of buzz among Vermont birders.
Well, yesterday a certified bander from Connecticut did in fact visit the site and capture the bird. Here’s what Randy posted afterwards:
We did indeed band and positively ID the East Arlington hummer this morning. The bird is a hatch year female Rufous Hummingbird who weighed 3.9 grams. Band number L66890. (the L will be translated to a numerical number later – the L fits easily on the band!)
Bander Bob Yunick captured the bird at the first feeder visit after the trap was set. VERY interesting process. The tail feathers made the ID (along with other details) and it was amazing to see the amount of rufus in the bird that you don’t see when the bird is just perching. He will be producing a complete report….
It was very neat to see the bird return to the feeder just 7 1/2 minutes after release….
So as some have mentioned – the lesson is? next year, keep those hummer feeders going! In fact this morning, the bird visited the feeder even though a small bit of ice had formed after the homeowner put it back out this morning. Temp was around 26 degrees at the time of capture.
Great experience all around.
Of course, since then we have had a major snowstorm throughout the Northeast. The fate of this vagrant is unclear but I hope she got out of Dodge before the snow hit.
Photo is of a rufous in another state by David-O
This morning, I saw birds being banded for the first time. My friends Chip and Larry from the North Branch Nature Center along with volunteers gather data for the MAPS (The Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship Program). They also use the banding activities to educate both youngsters and oldsters (like this one) to the techniques of bird monitoring.
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| Miles finds a Veery in the mist net. |
Larry and Chip unfurled the mist nets about 5:20 A.M. this morning just as the sun was getting ready to rise and soon began catching some of the small birds that hang out along the woods beside the North Branch of the Winooski River. Veerys, Common Yellowthroat warblers, Ovenbirds, a Song Sparrow, and several Gray Catbirds were among the birds caught while I was there. They checked the nets every half hour and carefully extracted the caught birds from the netting, then placing them in cloth bags for safekeeping.
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| Larry puts a band on a young Common Yellowthroat |
At the banding table, they gently removed a bird from the bag, using banders grip techniques to look over and document the sex, weight, age of the bird. This was all new to me – to see them blow on the feathers, spread the wings, expose the scalp, and of course, band the bird.
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| A young Ovenbird with “bad hair” due to a scalp check by Larry |
The birds were calm in the banders’ hands. The data collected was carefully recorded and then, after a last minute check, the bird was released and flew off a little fluffed up but uninjured.
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| Checking for feather wear |
I knew a little about catching birds in nets. I learned a great deal about how you measure and evaluate them and watch with awe the patience and calmness of Chip and Larry as they went through the morning. They both are excellent educators and all along, were explaining and answering questions. The kids were very interested — as were all of us.
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| Chip and a Catbird pose before release |
I plan to look for more birding bandings that I can observe. It’s fascinating and can’t help but make you a better birder.
A set of photos are here on Flickr.