What a treat!

I went to the Hummingbird banding event at Gail Woody’s house yesterday morning.   It was an amazing sight to behold.

A young girl would catch the hummers when they flew into cages set up with feeders. She put them in mesh bags, then hung the bags in the shade under a tent until a worker could measure it.

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The first thing the workers do is to put a miniscule aluminum band around the bird’s leg.  This band is so small it doesn’t even register on a very sensitive digital scale.  it assigns a number to each bird so that, if caught again, it can be reexamined for growth, migration information, etc.

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They measured its wing length and inspected it with a loupe.  This helped them determine the sex of the hummer.

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After the wing was measured, they would measure the tail feathers.

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Next, they measured the beak length and looked at it closely with the loupe for striations.  She explained that they were going to study the striations, thinking these might be a way of aging a hummer.

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Adding insult to injury, they turn the baby over and blow on its belly through a straw, checking for body fat.  They found one who weighed over 5 grams, or about 5 standard paper clips.   And it was considered huge!

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They weigh them, then hold them to a feeder so they can get some energy before being released.  The kids were allowed to hold the tiny birds and release them.  What a memorable thing for a child.

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Thanks, Gail, for a wonderful experience.

 

 

 

 

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