Of Bars and Rbnus (05/07/2006)
Today I had yet another fairly slow, but good day of banding at the Palomarin Field Station. Keeping all of our nets open for the 6 hrs of operation (620-1220) we were able to total the maximum net hours of 120, yet, despite having this, only 7 birds were caught on the day. But, one really can’t complain when you catch birds like the ones we did, the first individuals of the season for two rarely caught species!
Another benefit of the day being slow is it allowed me to take time between net runs to view and observe common species around the field station like the two below. Like they always say, know the common birds first…
…but back to banding! The first bird of the day in the nets was an Oregon Junco in the closest net (5.0) to the banding lab. I quickly handed this bird off to the other bander (Sandra) before making my way to finish the net run with one of our volunteers, Gabriella. Gabriella and her mom usually visit the station on Sundays and help us conduct our net runs, as well as helping to process birds (when we actually catch some).
The next birds to be caught included a male Bushtit, and the first of 2 sweet birds on the day…a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). Throughout the last two weeks this vociferous species’ songs and calls has been ringing throughout the woods at the Palo Field Station, and was listed as the Most Wanted Bird of the Day by us banders. Today just happened to be our lucky day to catch such an incredibly neat species. Check out that awesome bill…
Following the nuthatch we also caught a Hatch Year Allen’s Hummingbird, and the second sweet bird of the day…a Barn Swallow!
Anyone who watches swallows forage will say how amazing they are at flight, and to see such a master aerial in the hand was truly a treat on the day. It was hard to believe a bird of this size could have a set of wings like it does.
And of course Garbriella, our volunteer had a great time processing the bird (it was a first for her too).
To round out the day we caught two more birds on the last net run, a Song Sparrow, and a Swainson’s Thrush. As usual, just another day at the ranch…but at least we had a few new birds thrown into the mix to excite things up a bit.
Good banding,
~Chad (05/07/2006)
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May 7th, 2006 @ 8:36 pm
Weird how the formatting changed when I made an edit…oh, well…I’m sure people can manage with it…
May 13th, 2006 @ 10:10 pm
Hi Chad,
I love your website!!! I love your bird drawings! How do you draw so well?
Thanks for sending me the link.
gabriella