Monday, August 16, 2010

Hummingbird Banding Day

This was one of the set ups at the hummingbird banding north of Boise Saturday morning. Fishing line is tied to the door on the left. The person in control of the line to drop the door is about 15 feet away. After the door is down, a trained volunteer reaches in to get the hummingbird and puts it in a mesh bag until it gets its turn for "jewelry" - a leg band.
Fred Bassett bands the birds, weighs them and takes some measurements. The one above is getting tail feathers measured. Black chinned were the most common ones caught. Also banded were rufous hummingbirds and a calliope - which is the smallest hummingbird in North America. One of the birds caught already had a band. I haven't heard yet where that one was originally banded.
Here's a female black chinned hummingbird.

2 comments:

  1. Wow,I had no idea they did this sort of thing.

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  2. Fred B gave me the details about where that hummer was banded. I posted the info on my blog www.IdahoBirdingBlog.com. It was previously banded in Slidell, Louisiana! How cool is that?!

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