October 16, 2013 School visit - excitement plus!

At yesterday's regularly scheduled banding session Crystal reminded me that we we going to have a school visiting Possum Long today (Thanks Crystal, Sorry Linda!)  I had said I would talk about bird banding.  Last night Nancy Price suggested we put up nets and if we got birds it would be a great experience for the students.   Having done this at my former job, I have wanted to do this since the station opened but this was our first opportunity and Nancy's encouragement and willingness to monitor the nets made it happen.  Nancy was a pro at extracting birds today and the warblers kept both of us really busy.  If we had not had birds to share we had planned a hands-on task of banding "birds legs" (sticks) with "color bands" (slit pieces of drinking straws).  Most students got to do both.  It is always great to see people experience birds and bird banding up close.

I'd like to thank the students and parents of the Sonshine Christian School for their visit, enthusiasm, and total cooperation.  It was my honor to share this project with you.

We banded a total of  14 birds today; 12 of them were warblers (second highest count of warblers in a day):  6 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 4 Ovenbirds, 1 Common Yellowthroat and a first-for-the-station Magnolia Warbler.  I was very pleased to have the Magnolia show up in time to show the students.  It is only the second Magnolia Warbler we have seen on the property and the first one I have ever banded.

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

The small white dot on the almost middle feather (R2) indicated that this was a hatch year bird (born this year).  

Common Yellowthroat

Photo by Nancy Price 

The other two birds were banded after the school group left and were a Blue Jay and a Swainson's Thrush.

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Nancy Price

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Nancy Price

The row of light dots near the bend (wrist) of the wing indicated that this was also a hatch-year bird.

Also of great excitement was almost catching a Pileated Woodpecker.  It hit the net and we (cautiously) had hands on it but it managed to escape out of the end of the net.  We will order a band big enough for this woodpecker in case we ever catch one again.

Attempting to take the Pileated Woodpecker out of the net

Photo by Crystal Conway

Pileated Woodpecker after escape

Photo by Crystal Conway

Next scheduled banding is October 22 at 7 am.