Went out to Carpenter Nature Center for bird banding today. The event was open to the public. The weather was sunny and in the 50's at the start. It warmed up to the 60's. It was a perfect day for birding.
Larry and Dennis set up nets / traps. Mary, Dick, Jim, Lou, Jay, Bob, set up tables, paperwork, bird processing equipment. A professional photographer set up his equipment. Visitors and birds started to arrive.
One woman commented that the bird songs were plentiful this morning, unlike the area in Woodbury where she lives. Another woman and two daughters traveled all the way from Baldwin to visit CNC for the first time. One daughter had a camera. She found several things to photograph. Both girls could identify several types of birds. By the end of the morning they were asking, "Do you have a bag? There is a bird in the net over here." It was great.
A bus load of people came in during a time when there was a long absence of birds. Jim did a good job of explaining banding even though he didn't have a bird to demonstrate actual banding.
Because it was so quiet, Bob, Shadow and I took a walk outside. Shadow pranced around like the little princess she is. The photographer showed us some of his art - really cool stuff. On our walk we found a Blue Jay, a White-throated Sparrow and a Downy Woodpecker in the nets/traps. Bob carried the birds back to the processing area. Then Jen walked in with a Brown-headed Cowbird and a Blue Jay - not in bags just one in each hand! It was after noon and I had to leave for a 12:30 appointment. I hated to leave. Larry said it was OK, he would take down the nets.
Not sure of the final count but Jay's list of birds for the day filled up most of one page.
