These snaps are from this morning's Hummingbird Monitoring Network
banding and data recording session in Madera Canyon in Southern Arizona. Protocols for data precision and bird well being are quite precise and exacting. Much of the work is done by experienced and well trained citizen scientist volunteers.
A mesh trap is used to capture birds as they feed.
Once trapped they are quickly transported in soft mesh bags to the recording station.
About twenty elements of size, weight and condition data are gathered and recorded. Bands are applied to birds that do not have them. The bands, in several different sizes, are all very light, tiny, and smoothed for comfort.
The hummingbirds are not dismayed by capture and handling. Some, when released, go right back to the feeder.
Before release the birds are given their fill of sugar water. They are not at all shy about drinking while still in hand. A three-gram bird has been known to down a full gram of nectar.
This Rufous was gone in a flash when the top hand was removed. On this brisk morning the Broadbills were happy to continue enjoying a bit of human warmth.
A new study is underway looking at possible correlations between climate change and hummingbird populations. Numbers fluctuate from year to year, so it will be some years before any conclusions can be drawn.
