Another Break
You know what's fun? That bee people really aren't that different than bird people. During the bee class there's been a guy behind me answering questions loud enough for all in the immediate area to hear. He hasn't raised any bees but has read so much, he is an expert (his words, not mine).
So, we're at another break in the bee class so I thought I would catch up on the doin's that transpired at Carpenter banding yesterday.
It was a veritable junco 'sploxion. we trapped and banded a ton yesterday. And they were a little chirpy. I wonder if the warmer weather was stimulating them? They will be heading north soon.
We didn't have the mist nets up, only the Potter's traps to get smaller birds. Somehow this female mourning dove lumbered her way in. Interesting: you can sex mourning doves in hand by checking their neck. If there is quite a bit of iridescent rosy pink the bird is male. If there is mostly tan coloration then it is female. She had mostly tan on her neck.
After banding, it was so warm out I couldn't just go home and decided to head down to Red Wing to take a quick look at eagles. I passed a bank sign that said the temperature was 47 degrees. I ditched my coat, gloves, earmuffs and scarf and wandered around the marina.
The warm weather was helping the eagles feel the love and there was some flirting going. Above are two eagles on the same branch. That's the raptor equivalent of second base. There is a nest at the marina and I did see an eagle sitting inside the nest.
Many were across the marina, but a few lurk in the trees right over the walking path at Colville Park, fairly oblivious to humans. That's what I love about this area, these eagles are not delicate flowers to be given distance. They see the humans, they get what we're about and they will hang out fairly close to us. Heck, they nest right off of highways and here at the marina with high boat traffic. These birds made an informed decision and will nest in an open area, easy for humans to watch and enjoy. Raptors nests aren't always as fragile as some would like you to think.
While at the park an eagle picked off a large fish, probably a carp. As soon as it landed in the tree all the other dozens of eagles in the trees were screaming and squeaking. I'm not sure if they are saying, "Way to go, dude, nice catch!" or they are saying, "Aw man, I'm so hungry. It's not fair, I was thinking of going for that fish."
While this guy was eating, another eagle came over to check out the situation (above).
This eagle was really, really interested on watching the other eagle eating its fish.
It kept looking down at its toes. Our eagles at the Raptor Center do that all the time. I wasn't sure if this bird was watching fish bits fall and debating with itself if it would be worthwhile to go get them or if it was hoping that at some point a fish would magically appear in its talons.
Breaks over.
So, we're at another break in the bee class so I thought I would catch up on the doin's that transpired at Carpenter banding yesterday.
It was a veritable junco 'sploxion. we trapped and banded a ton yesterday. And they were a little chirpy. I wonder if the warmer weather was stimulating them? They will be heading north soon.
We didn't have the mist nets up, only the Potter's traps to get smaller birds. Somehow this female mourning dove lumbered her way in. Interesting: you can sex mourning doves in hand by checking their neck. If there is quite a bit of iridescent rosy pink the bird is male. If there is mostly tan coloration then it is female. She had mostly tan on her neck.
After banding, it was so warm out I couldn't just go home and decided to head down to Red Wing to take a quick look at eagles. I passed a bank sign that said the temperature was 47 degrees. I ditched my coat, gloves, earmuffs and scarf and wandered around the marina.
The warm weather was helping the eagles feel the love and there was some flirting going. Above are two eagles on the same branch. That's the raptor equivalent of second base. There is a nest at the marina and I did see an eagle sitting inside the nest.
Many were across the marina, but a few lurk in the trees right over the walking path at Colville Park, fairly oblivious to humans. That's what I love about this area, these eagles are not delicate flowers to be given distance. They see the humans, they get what we're about and they will hang out fairly close to us. Heck, they nest right off of highways and here at the marina with high boat traffic. These birds made an informed decision and will nest in an open area, easy for humans to watch and enjoy. Raptors nests aren't always as fragile as some would like you to think.
While at the park an eagle picked off a large fish, probably a carp. As soon as it landed in the tree all the other dozens of eagles in the trees were screaming and squeaking. I'm not sure if they are saying, "Way to go, dude, nice catch!" or they are saying, "Aw man, I'm so hungry. It's not fair, I was thinking of going for that fish."While this guy was eating, another eagle came over to check out the situation (above).
This eagle was really, really interested on watching the other eagle eating its fish.
It kept looking down at its toes. Our eagles at the Raptor Center do that all the time. I wasn't sure if this bird was watching fish bits fall and debating with itself if it would be worthwhile to go get them or if it was hoping that at some point a fish would magically appear in its talons.Breaks over.
Labels: banding, digiscoping, ringing
posted by birdchick at 12:57 PM
4 Comments:
I think the Bald Eagles in CT. are a little bit more wary.-Nice pictures of one of my favorite birds.-thanks for sharing the photos.
That last pic cracked me up. Like he was thinking, "Do I have a fish yet? Nope. How about now? Nope. maaaaaaybe now? Damn."
With our resident RSHA screaming off in the distance and knockin' boots, I can't help but sing a song in my head:
"Can you feel...the love...tonight...."
I went to my first banding event on Sat and it was totally awesome! The banders let the people in the crowd release the banded birds, and I got to hold a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a titmouse, a chickadee, and a goldfinch. Boy, that titmouse bit hard! And here I was more worried about the woodpecker, who only gave me a little love-nibble.
I was interested in how they aged and sexed the birds, especially things like chickadees that all look alike to me. We had a junco that the bander couldn't tell the gender on, since it was intermediate in size and color markings, so he called it "Pat," from the old Saturday Night Live sketch.
I took some pictures but they were terrible. What do you do to get such great shots of the birds in hand?
~Kathi
Susan,
I tend to hear more Barry White...oh yeaaaaaaah....
katdoc!
You went to your first banding! Whoot! Yeah, you have to watch those titmice and chickadees, they sure know how to wedge those tiny bills under your finger nails.
As for my banding shots, I tend to purchase cameras with good macro features (the little flower on your camera--always make sure that is set when taking up close banding shots). Some cameras have better macro zoom than others.
My best macro photos have been with Nikon Coolpix Cameras. The one I'm currently using is the Coolpix 4500. This is different than the camera that I use for digiscoping, that one is a Fuji FinePix E900. The Fuji has an okay macro feature, but doesn't quite get the detail that the 4500 gets.
I can use both of my cameras for digiscoping, and many people use the Nikon Coolpix 4500. But the view finder is larger on the Fuji so I tend to use it more.
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