Sunday, June 1, 2008 – Bird Banding with Tom at CLDC (MAPS banding station)
I (now) know that there is bird banding right at the Pilgrimage – right at Camp Allegany. Ha ha… Instead, we drove out to Tom LeBlanc’s (a.k.a. Mon@rch‘s) CLDC banding site… the long way through the park… I hadn’t had coffee yet to realize that going through the park would add several miles to our trip). We took a wrong turn and drove places a 15-passenger van should never go. Just don’t tell my boss… or the parents of the children who went with me…
Tom is a great teacher and always let’s the kids have a hands-on experience. Each of “my” kids got to release at least one bird. Here they all are:
Karen and Veery
Abbey and Towhee
Liz and House Wren
Eric and Common Yellowthroat
Emily and Goldfinch
Emily’s bird won’t fly… I think she thought it was dead… But it wasn’t. It eventually flew!
Jacob and Red-Eyed Vireo
Jacob’s bird wouldn’t fly at first either. Just before it finally DID fly, it turned and gave Jacob a little nip!
For Tom’s version of this story, click here:
http://monarchbfly.com/2008/06/03/first-day-at-cldc/
Splendid pictures of the banding adventure. What a marvelous experience it must have been for your crew. Curious that some of the birds wouldn’t fly at first — stunned reaction to being handled ??
Checked out the Mon@rch site for his account of the same program and see that lots and lots of kids and others took part in what must be a highlight experience for the year.
Those birds like the Red-eyed Vireo don’t realize they are free to fly and like Jen said . . . it took a nip at its finger then flew away!! Very typical behavior of the REVI!! Also, when we work with the kids letting the birds go they use both hands. As soon as the top hand is pulled away leaving the resting bird in the cupped hand . . . . once it realizes its alright to fly it takes flight.
Jen . . . wonderful series of pictures of all the kids and maybe another time you can bring them again?? Now that you know the directions . . . 🙂 Glad you and the kids had so much fun.
Thanks, all… This bird banding stuff sure is wonderful fun. Wish I had tagged along years ago.
Glad everyone had a good time. Tom is a great guy and it’s no surprise really.
I’ve always wanted to do this – looks like everyone had a great time.