Post by Steve Backes on Jan 24, 2011 22:29:55 GMT -5
Fred Bassett visited my yard on Monday morning to band the 16-20 birds that had been regularly visiting my yard over the past few weeks, especially a young male Rufous and a pair of Black-chinneds. Also present for the past month has been a male and a female Ruby-throated with bands. Last year, we banded 12 hummingbirds in the yard in January.
How could this not be the best banding session ever.
For starters, over the past two weeks, as it warmed up, many of the birds started changing their territories. New birds replaced ones that had been in the yard for months. Birds started leaving the yard reducing the numbers of birds to the point where there were no more territorial disputes. At times, it was hard to find a hummingbird in the yard. Even the Rufous left for two days before returning to a new area of the yard. Unfortunately, the Rufous left again two days before the banding and hasn't been seen since.
I hung a trainer trap around the feeder used by the previously banded adult male Ruby-throated a few days before we were to band and the bird instantly moved to another area of the yard and refused to go near his old feeder.
We were able to band 7 birds within an hour and a half with the young male Black-chinned being the first. He actually sat on the feeder in the cage as we were setting up and allowed me to walk half way across the backyard to get to the line to close the trap. The other six hummingbirds banded were all Ruby-throateds, one adult male, two females, and three young males. All banded birds were marked with a pink stripe on their head. After Fred left I saw the two previously banded birds and an unbanded young male Ruby-throated.
I was able to find 9 different hummingbirds in the yard on Sunday but it took time and patience. A few weeks ago, any walk around the house would have produced more than a dozen birds.
I know I sound spoiled but I'm so disappointed with only seven birds being banded. I'm going into hummingbird withdrawl with only 9 birds in my yard.
How could this not be the best banding session ever.
For starters, over the past two weeks, as it warmed up, many of the birds started changing their territories. New birds replaced ones that had been in the yard for months. Birds started leaving the yard reducing the numbers of birds to the point where there were no more territorial disputes. At times, it was hard to find a hummingbird in the yard. Even the Rufous left for two days before returning to a new area of the yard. Unfortunately, the Rufous left again two days before the banding and hasn't been seen since.
I hung a trainer trap around the feeder used by the previously banded adult male Ruby-throated a few days before we were to band and the bird instantly moved to another area of the yard and refused to go near his old feeder.
We were able to band 7 birds within an hour and a half with the young male Black-chinned being the first. He actually sat on the feeder in the cage as we were setting up and allowed me to walk half way across the backyard to get to the line to close the trap. The other six hummingbirds banded were all Ruby-throateds, one adult male, two females, and three young males. All banded birds were marked with a pink stripe on their head. After Fred left I saw the two previously banded birds and an unbanded young male Ruby-throated.
I was able to find 9 different hummingbirds in the yard on Sunday but it took time and patience. A few weeks ago, any walk around the house would have produced more than a dozen birds.
I know I sound spoiled but I'm so disappointed with only seven birds being banded. I'm going into hummingbird withdrawl with only 9 birds in my yard.
