Birds of a feather

We went to a bird festival yesterday.

That sentence alone allows plenty of jokes and puns to be had, don't you think?

The photo to the left suggests, "a bird in the hand...." or perhaps this man is giving me the bird. (I don't know what kind of bird this is. I think it's a warbler of some kind but don't quote me. I was too excited to remember which bird was which.) You can be bird-brained or bird legged. You can watch the birdie. You can put a birdie on it.

Anyway, this bird thing was about banding birds. Not a band of birds, but banding birds.

I did not think I would like banding of birds as I was afraid it would be terrifying. After all, birds are caught in trap nets, are untangled to be put in a bag, taken out of the bag only to have aluminum bands squished on to their leg and then sent on their way. That sounds might terrifying. I would think (1) the bird would be injured physically; (2) the bird would be scarred for eternity; (3) someone would get his/her eyes poked out by a raging killer bird; and, (4) bird shit would be everywhere.

It actually is incredible and not at all terrifying. Bird nerds are a sensitive lot. I shouldn't have worried.

Here's a photo of a little bird being banded. The beak and color suggest this is my little female grosbeak but I'm no ornithologist. I give it an 85% chance I'm correct. As you can see, she's just kinda hanging out, waiting for her banding to be completed. She's probably thinking, "I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?"

I made that up. I have no idea what she's thinking in that little bird brain of hers. Maybe she's thinking how she should poop all over this lady.

Catching and banding birds is an interesting thing but the variety of birds is what caught my attention. In the hour we were in the "classroom," I saw more "new" birds than old. I am excited to report that a female rose-breasted grosbeak was part of the flock. Oh, how I love a grosbeak. The female birds are often hard to see because they are brown or at least much more brown that not. They blend in. Damn male birds get all the fun.

While walking along one of the nets, we were treated to, withing twenty or yards of each other, a scarlet tanager, an indigo bunting and a downy woodpecker (along with a cat bird, who never gets top billing when one sees a blue colored and a bright red colored bird). Now, these birds were caught IN the net, so that was a bit disturbing, but once I watched the bird kid remove the birds from the net, I was much relieved. The birds come out no worse for the wear (well, at least the birds we saw) and they don't seem in need of therapy for PTND (post traumatic net disorder). To the left, please view the newly-freed youngster of a scarlet tanager. As you can see, it's a wee bit displeased about being held "captive," as evidenced by the peck to the hand. Hey, a nibble on the hand is a lot better than a poke to the eye.

Unbelievably to me, I was allowed to hold and free a bird that was newly banded. I've never held a bird (well, we had parakeets for a dot during childhood but that doesn't count, no offense to the parakeets). The bird person tells you what to do and then they pass the bird to you. What a photo opportunity! Of course, I do not have photos from this photo opportunity. Anyway, that little bird (I think it was a Carolina Wren or something of the sort), was so light that I literally didn't think he had any weight to him. All his was was soft. Super soft. Like ridiculously soft. I held him as told and then opened my hand. He took a second and then zipped off in flight.

One of my favorite parts of the day was..... watching an unnamed 10 year old in the front row. He identified the birds immediately as they were pulled out of the bags. He had a camera that was as big as he and his face told of a passion for birds like no other. (This is a photo of him taking a photo. Talk about getting up close and personal!)  I was stunned by his bird prowess and fully entertained when he saw a bird of which he had never seen (I think there was only one bird he hadn't seen--the kid's been around). Some of those birds looked a lot alike (no offense to the birds), so it was pretty impressive that this kid knew within seconds which bird was which. I would have liked to have spent the day with him, as I would have learned more about birds in a day than I've learned in my lifetime. I have a photo of him seeing that "never seen before" bird but I didn't think it appropriate to post him on the blog. After all, he might someday be a professional birder and sue me for a bazillion dollars.

Here's a woodpecker being freed from the net. It's hard to even see the net. As you can see, he has a beak that really could poke an eye out. I showed utmost respect when near him. I like my eyes in my head, thank you very much.

Next time, I hope we stay for four hours instead of 1.5 hours. (We had a busy Saturday. Only a dot of time for birding.) I will bring my camera AND a notebook--so I can remember what the hell I saw and what each bird is in the photos I take. I've got a lot of studying to do before I go back. Perhaps I could hire that 10 year old....or, find my ex-husband. He's a bird nerd of the highest caliber. He's the one that got me started on this whole bird thing.

Naw, I'll stick with birding with the cedar-wax-wing-loving-wife. She does love a good bird sighting. We're birds of a feather, so we'll flock together. And, we'll have a bird or two in the hand. Care to join our band?
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