The Eccentric Adventurer

Hey everyone! So I was able to attend a short bird banding demonstration. This was at the Bird Banding Workshop hosted by Birds Caribbean at the Bahamas National Trust.

It was amazing to see so many scientists all together to study our Bahamian birds. I am fairly new to birding, but I was still able to learn a lot of things about bird morphology and molting. There were three parts to the workshop that I know of so far.

The net, the lab and the not so dreaded PowerPoint

One part was the capture of small birds with Mist Nets. Occasionally, a bigger bird like a Dove or Pigeon would get caught in the net without escaping and that was fine. Those birds would still get banded.

The second part of the workshop was the outside lab, where the weight and dimensions of the bird were recorded. The bird was also sexually identified, aged and checked for fat storage which was usually around the breast and abdomen area of the bird.

The last part was the PowerPoint session (which I did not have time to attend). This is where scientists would share information on bird research methods.

I was also able to hold and release a beautiful Cape May Warbler! Check it out below:

Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina)

In order to properly hold this beautiful creature, the first thing I had to do was make a peace sign with my non-dominant hand. In between my pointing finger and middle finger is where the Cape May Warbler’s head was gently placed. Then, with the remainder of my fingers, I had to gently lock in place the bird so that it can be comfortable. However, I was taken aback! The little bird’s heartbeat was going very quickly. I was told by one of the professional handlers to not worry because bird’s have high metabolisms and that is why their heart beats fast. Anyways, I was told to make my right hand flat in order to provide a platform for the bird to fly off. It was emphasized that it should just be a platform. Nothing more, nothing less. That means don’t get any ideas of trying to launch the bird up! They can seriously get hurt. It isn’t like they did not just get abducted by tall-walking man-beasts who were using special weird-looking equipment on them…

Overall, I am pretty grateful for Bird’s Caribbean and The Bahamas National Trust for hosting a Bird Banding Workshops at the Retreat Gardens. Starting off being a scientist of the water, it was like a breath of fresh air learning some stuff in the terrestrial side of things. Would I go back to another workshop? Of course! And you for sure know I went birding after that workshop!