I got me a handful of Swallows!Our big fun on the Fourth was helping our friends and neighbors, Judy and Hugh, band their Purple Martin and Tree Swallow nestlings. Not to worry though, as true Americans we also had a fish fry(with fresh Walleye from Lake Erie courtesy of friend Jim) and fireworks! And we didn't set anything on fire that wasn't supposed to be on fire.
Anyway, back to the bird banding...I will start out with photos of the Tree Swallows, mostly because there are fewer pics to edit. These little guys were just big enough to band, though they are certainly very small compared to the Purple Martins!
Anyway, back to the bird banding...I will start out with photos of the Tree Swallows, mostly because there are fewer pics to edit. These little guys were just big enough to band, though they are certainly very small compared to the Purple Martins!
Hugh is taking down the Swallow box. I forgot to mention the female adult was still inside.Hugh was a little surprised when it rocketed out of that hole!
Here's Hugh holding the box while Judy grabs the buggy little buggars for Mark Shieldcastle to band.Mark is the "Baron of Bird Banders!"
That takes more skill than you think to get that little band on!
Judy grabbing the little dears as fast as she can!
I had to stop taking photos because there were more babies than hands to hold them!It's amazing how much the squirm around.
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteHow cool. i did not know you were banding the birds of the nest boxes!! That's pretty neat to do so! Beautiful post... I was kind of wondering where you were, you did not post for a while, but I see you were busy ;-)
Dave, that's beautiful, handling the Swallow chicks is really tremendous.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris! Busy at work and the B.P. thing has given me a bad attitude lately.
ReplyDeleteBanding the little ones has helped tremendously!
Hi Bob, thanks, ya gotta love those tiny babies! It's amazing how big they will get within a week!