This isn’t about Vermont, but it’s about a great place that Vermonters can visit, so I figured I’d throw it up, but I wanted to leave the front page with more relevant, Vermont-related stuff.
Parker River Wildlife Refuge, on Plum Island in coastal Massachusetts is probably one of my very favorite places to bird. It hosts several hundred species of bird throughout the year, and its salt marshes allow for a great deal of variety. September is one of the best times to visit, and last weekend was no exception. Not only did we get a series of birds, we got one new life bird and some fairly tricky to find warblers.
But one of the real highlights was a visit to the refuge banding station.
I’ve never seen bird banding before– it’s more than I thought. They capture birds in nets, which are patrolled regularly (you’ll see some birds in nets in the photos below), and put them into temporary holding bags. The birds get annoyed, certainly, but they are released generally unharmed.
Before that happens, however, several things need to take place. The birds are banded, such as in this photo:
The bands are supposed to last for the life of the bird. They’re coded with unique identifying numbers which allow us to know if the birds have been captured and released in other areas and improve our understanding of migration paths. They also are measured for a variety of characteristics (age, overall health, etc). You’ll see below that one of the birds in someone’s hand has a fairly wet head. Wetting the head allows researchers to look at the bird’s skull; in may cases, a first year bird doesn’t have the same skull configuration as an older bird (the second layer of their skull hasn’t grown in yet).
In some cases, such as in bird #20 below, they did some detailed measurements of the differences between lengths of some of the wing feathers to get a definitive ID on it.
All in all, it was fascinating– I learned so much more about the details of birds and bird physiology than I expected, and since the banding station is fairly far away from traffic, we got some of the more reclusive birds that I don’t normally get to see just hanging out at the banding area.
So– about the photos below: I’ve decided to make this a Sunday bird quiz. I will preface by saying that all the photos below were taken at Parker River, and they were all taken last weekend, which can help you narrow down some of the choices. If, however, you aren’t in the mood for a quiz, you can click on the image to get to a larger version of it, with details about the bird (exact species, etc), assuming I’m correct.
Bird 01, a bit of nuisance
Bird 02, first I’ve ever photographed of these
Bird 03, fall plumage of a common bird
Bird 04, a common flycatcher
Bird 05, which looks like its name
Bird 06, which is a little tricky from this angle
Bird 07, which I only see in Spring and Fall
Bird 08, which I also only see in Spring and Fall
Bird 09a, a relative of bird 9b
Bird 09b, a relative of Bird 09a
Bird 10, which does what it’s called
Bird 11, which is clearly not amused
Bird 12, which is very difficult to ID for some
Bird 13 (not easy)
Bird 14, which are fun to watch
Bird 15, one of my favorite sparrows
Bird 16, which are adorable
Bird 17, which is feisty and beautiful
Bird 18, which is incredibly small
Bird 19 (this one is not easy either)
Bird 20, which I still have yet to photograph in the wild
Bird 21, which is subtle but solvable
Bird 22, which I rarely photograph in the wild
Bird 23, which I hear more often than I see
Hope you enjoyed the quiz. I also have a quick personal plug. I’m selling a 2010 calendar of birding:
As well as one on my night photography:
If you’d like to support my photography, buying a calendar is a fine way to do so.