Banding In March
Well, one of the things about March is that it's a transition month and when it comes to banding it's feast or famine. This red squirrel in a Potter's trap. Don't worry, we didn't band it. It was set free.
We did get in a few birds like this junco, but that's nothing compared to Minnesota BirdNerd (aka my buddy Roger who often shows up at Birds and Beers with has banding partner Mark) who was having a slow bird banding day until a pileated woodpecker flew into the nets. Check out his blog entry here for some photos of the event. Also, check out his face in this photo--he totally looks like he's a breath away from some choice four letter words--I'm sure a pileated pecking your hand is up there with getting footed by broad-winged hawk.Labels: banding
posted by birdchick at 10:20 PM
8 Comments:
Wow! His poor hand :( But still cool!
I'm planning on starting to do bird banding in the fall through McGill. I even arranged my schedule so that I have days off in order to deal with the brutal early mornings :) I can't wait!
Last year, they caught a red-tail in the net...apparently that was quite exciting!
That pileated sounds so pitiful! I do love the pileateds.
Just in the last week I've noticed a huge decline in the number of juncos in my backyard....they must be heading north already? (triggered by the arrival of grackles who pig out in the groundfeeding trays that juncos loved all winter?)
As always, great nail polish LOL
Sharon, we have a calico squirrel in our yard!!! I cannot get a picture, no matter what I try. It's part red, part gray and has white paws and ears. As soon as I get a picture I'll send it to you!
Our birds are pretty thin down on the farm - just cardinals and little sparrows, we're not getting robins yet. Wood ducks have arrived though, so spring is looking up in Illinos
To heck with his hand...
That bird surely sounds very stressed.
Was this really necessary? What's the point of this excercise? What if the bird died as a result of it's handling?
April,
Read about bird banding at the Bird Banding Lab Website:
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/
Is the bird stressed? Yes. Is this the most stressful thing it will experience in it's life? In its day to day activities? Probably not. Juncos have to watch for Cooper's hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, cats, shrikes, migration, where to find food, etc.
There is a lot of bird banding in this blog so if you don't like to read about that or if you don't agree with it being done, this may not be the blog for you.
This is a very nice blog.
I just have a problem with people capturing and banding birds just so they can say they captured and banded a bird. And there are lots of them out there.
Did this particular banding contribute to the body of science about this/these particular critter/s? If it did..great!
It should be scientific, it should enhance the protection of birds, and it should be rare,IMO.
Birds obviously encounter a lot of stress every day just trying to survive. Should we add to it?
April,
If you had followed the link I provided to the Bird Banding Lab you would have read this:
"Only those persons who are well qualified and have a well defined research project are issued banding permits."
The "isn't this cruel" thing is a subject that has been brought up before in the blog and explained. It's frustrating when someone reads one post and doesn't bother to check any of the back ones to find out more of what's going on. You will also note that this blog entry is tagged with the "banding". If you click on that, you can follow all the blog posts on banding, read about the different studies and the discussions in those posts.
I've been involved in several different banding projects including pelicans, raptors, and songbirds. Each project has a different study. I'm currently taking a class in songbird banding at Carpenter Nature Center on Wednesdays. Carpenter has a long term banding study and is run by master bander Jim Fitzpatrick. They study aging, plumage variations, site fidelity and educate the public about birds and banding. You are welcome to come to Carpenter and learn more about it, they do public banding every Friday morning.
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