The weather report predicted cooler today, but it really didn't seem that way. Only banded 14 birds, plus caught 4 birds that we had banded in prior years, including a Chat that we banded as an adult in 2006!
Our excitement for the day was catching a banded Broad-tailed Hummingbird. As most of you know, we do not band hummingbirds, which require an additional license and different bands. However, each season we catch a few in the nets, admire them and then release. I removed this lovely adult male from the net and turned to a small group of visiting children with parents and said, "Look at the tiny little legs", followed by "Holy cow, this bird has a band!" The Bird Banding Lab reports that the bird was banded at Fort Davis, TX, as a hatch year bird in October, 2010. Hope to get in touch with the bander to get more information about this banding operation. We caught a female at the same time, so this may very well be a breeding pair at Chatfield. Here's the breakdown for the day: Black-capped Chickadee 1 House Wren 3 new, 1 return (banded 5/19/09) Yellow Warbler 2 new, 1 return (banded 5/13/12) Yellow-breasted Chat 2 returns (1 banded 5/27/11 and the other banded 5/21/06) Brewer's Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Open daily, weather permitting, through June 2. Hope for cooler weather! Meredith McBurney Biologist/Bander Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory 303-329-8091 Celebrating 25 Years of Bird and Habitat Conservation -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
