Songbird banding season has begun and I'm doing my best to get out to RIT's bird observatory 3 days a week and to 3BO (Braddock Bay Bird Observatory) twice a week. RITBO is located near some wetland habitat, so some of the species caught there differ from the ones we generally get at 3BO. So far at RITBO I've discovered just how grabby Red-winged Blackbirds are. Attempts are made to allow the bird to grab a pencil or a straw instead of the bander's finger/s, with varying levels of success (think Indiana Jones substituting the bag of sand for the idol in the often-parodied beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Earlier this week a male RWBL I was banding flung the pencil he was holding at us, and then promptly grabbed onto my fingers again.
Tonight BBRR's 22nd Annual Bird of Prey Days kicks off with a live program featuring Liberty the Bald Eagle at 7 pm. I'm excited for this weekend's events, although admittedly kind of bummed that this also happens to be the weekend a couple of friends are coming to town for a visit, haven't seen one of them in months! Sigh. Guess it's not such a horrible problem--having lots of things to look forward to all at once, just wish they didn't conflict with each other.
Daily summaries of the banding operations at 3BO can be found here
and event details for Bird of Prey Days can be found here!
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