Back to Kelleys Island we went on Friday. This time our goal was to capture, band and release several birds for our primary lab exercise this quarter.
Unfortunately, we captured two birds. And I only had my camera ready to take a picture for one of them. And neither bird was a red-winged blackbird or a cardinal. Our study may be in peril.
Fortunately, there were several nesting boxes for purple martins nearby, each with several families of newly-hatched birds waiting to be banded and photographed. Contrary to what your first grade teacher may have told you, handling hatchlings and eggs won't make the mother abandon them. In fact, many of the adults waited patiently with food in their mouths while we banded their offspring, after which the parents quickly entered their nests to put food in their babies' mouths.
You can see the album of this trip here.
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I'm glad you informed me that touching a newly-hatched bird won't make the mother abandon it. I've never been in that situation, but I've totally heard that before. It seems like your stay at Stone Lab is awesome. Did you get to enjoy some of Kelley's Island? Buy an fudge? I've been to Kelley's a bunch of times, and I always got a kick out of driving around in golf carts.
ReplyDeleteThose pictures are fabulous, Casey. And, yes, thanks for clarifying that it's okay to handle baby birds. I've definitely had experiences where I wanted to help a baby bird that had fallen out of a tree, but I didn't know what to do.
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