photo report by Sharon Stichter
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On August 4 and 5, 2007, Anthony Hill, a federally licensed Master Bander with hummingbird certification, came to my house in Newbury, MA, to band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Anthony trained with one of the foremost hummingbird banders in the country, Bob Sargent, and regularly bands many species of birds at the Appledore Island Migration Banding Station in the Isles of Shoals off the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire. He also bands hummingbirds every summer at his home in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In addition, Anthony is certified as a Trainer by the North American Banding Council. This is an important organization dedicated to promoting safe and standardized banding practice in North America. See http://www.nabanding.net/nabanding/ for more information about its mission and activities. See the end of this page for how to contact Anthony Hill. On August 4, five Ruby-throats were caught and banded in my yard! Three were hatch-year females, one a hatch-year male, and one an adult male. Early the next morning, Anthony caught another hatch-year female, for a grand total of six birds! As far as I was concerned, this was a great total for my yard, since on my July 29 Count, I had seen only 4 birds. Many local birders came by to see this fascinating demonstration, and we all had a great time watching a skilled bander at work. The photos below do not present a complete account of the banding process, but they'll give you some of the interesting highlights. |
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| Setting up for the first bird -- Alison O'Hare observes | The trap -- door held open by fishing line |
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| The tools: scale, pliers, magnifier, bands, ruler, calipers, and GPS unit. | No, not fishing tackle --- banding gear! |
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| Anthony carefully removes a bird from the trap. |
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| Measuring the tail | Measuring the wing chord |
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| Measuring the bill | Examining the shape of the primaries |
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| Weighing the bird | And the band is on! On the right leg. |
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Meanwhile, observers Jim Berry, Lynette Leka, Paula McFarland and Sue McGrath watch every step of the process, and Dave Weaver records the data. |
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| And here is our AHY male, just prior to release. |
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As each little bird flew off, none-the-worse for its short encounter with us, I knew that in the long run this effort would help us to understand these 'winged jewels' a little bit better. And I actually don’t think they minded wearing their new jewelry, because several of them were back at my feeders that very evening.
-------------------------- He would be
very interested to hear about hummingbirds available for banding that are
coming to feeders in these states after He would like to emphasize that he is always very concerned to maintain landowners' privacy as part of his banding visits. He can be contacted at anhinga13@hotmail.com or via cell phone at 413-575-4809. page updated 8/10/2007 text and photos © Sharon Stichter 2007 All rights reserved.
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