On Saturday,July17,Jake and I attended a Hummingbird banding demonstration.
This was held at A Rocha in the Pembina Valley.
This place is about a half hour drive south-west of Morden.
The bander was from South Carolina,Doreen Cubie
leads a rich life and bird banding is only one of her interests.
I have put my pictures into collages,because I have quite a few.
This first collage shows in NO. 1 The cage set-up,in order to catch the hummingbirds.
Doreens' husband sat at the far end of the deck,ready to lower the cage door when a bird came in.This was done with a fishing line attached to the door.
N0.2 Shows Doreen gently retrieving the bird.
No.3 You can see a hummer in the mesh bag,waiting to be banded.
No.4 Gives you a close-up view of the pliers used to attach the tiny band.
The final collage shows a few different views.
No.1 Doreen is showing us the tail of a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Note the white on the outer tail feathers.
No.2 Here the bird is put upside down,and through a drinking straw the bander gently blows on the feathers.
This gives her a chance to see if this bird has any fat reserves or maybe even an egg.
No.3 This one is a male bird.Note the all black tail.
No.4 Here is the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird,in all its' beauty.
No.5 Doreen took this bird into better light so we could see the beauty of its feathers.
I have to say it again,she was as tender as could be with these birds.
When all the details had been recorded,one of the children there had the chance to stretch out their hand and hold the bird until it flew away.
No.6 Here is a look at the people intently watching all the details of bird banding.
This was held at A Rocha in the Pembina Valley.
This place is about a half hour drive south-west of Morden.
The bander was from South Carolina,Doreen Cubie
leads a rich life and bird banding is only one of her interests.
I have put my pictures into collages,because I have quite a few.
This first collage shows in NO. 1 The cage set-up,in order to catch the hummingbirds.
Doreens' husband sat at the far end of the deck,ready to lower the cage door when a bird came in.This was done with a fishing line attached to the door.
N0.2 Shows Doreen gently retrieving the bird.
No.3 You can see a hummer in the mesh bag,waiting to be banded.
No.4 Gives you a close-up view of the pliers used to attach the tiny band.
The second collage shows the actual banding.
Picture No.1 She is gently attaching the band.I was impressed at how almost tenderly she handled these birds.
Notice that a ladies nylon anklet was used to hold the bird and protect it.
No.2 A gentle stretch of this tiny leg,now shows the band and numbers on it.
No.3Another important step is to measure the bird,wing length,bill length and also weight.
The birds which were caught weighed in at a whopping 2.5-3 grams.
No.4 As a thank-you for putting up with this human intervention,each bird was given the opportunity to get a sweet sip of nectar.
The final collage shows a few different views.
No.1 Doreen is showing us the tail of a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Note the white on the outer tail feathers.
No.2 Here the bird is put upside down,and through a drinking straw the bander gently blows on the feathers.
This gives her a chance to see if this bird has any fat reserves or maybe even an egg.
No.3 This one is a male bird.Note the all black tail.
No.4 Here is the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird,in all its' beauty.
No.5 Doreen took this bird into better light so we could see the beauty of its feathers.
I have to say it again,she was as tender as could be with these birds.
When all the details had been recorded,one of the children there had the chance to stretch out their hand and hold the bird until it flew away.
No.6 Here is a look at the people intently watching all the details of bird banding.
This was an exciting day for me,as I had never observed bird banding before.
Looking at these flying jewels I can fully understand the quote of the day:
Nature is the art of God.
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