A bird in the hand is worth...

It's actually priceless to see these beautiful animals up close. Being able to have close interactions with birds make me really appreciate not just how beautiful they are, but what amazing critters they are. I've been banding in the yard now for almost 2 months. I haven't caught many birds (yet), mostly because of the natural harvest (lots of food out in the woods). My main focus is on wintering songbirds, particularly those that visit bird feeders. For years I have been asked many times, is the Baltimore Oriole we get at our feeder the one we had last year? Without banding that's almost an impossible question to answer. I think we do get the same birds visiting our yards every winter. I hope this project will prove it. I guess the underlying question is...Are well established feeding stations an important food source for wintering passerines? I aim to expand it to cover migrant songbirds as well.

My target species are songbirds that migrate to Florida for the winter and visit bird feeders. Obviously the best place to do that is in a well established feeder yard like mine. The most common wintering species I'm hoping to catch are Baltimore Oriole, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping Sparrow and American Goldfinch. Less common species (at least less common in my neighborhood) such as White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Siskin will also be caught but maybe not every year (I could be wrong though). Also rare birds such as Western Tanager and Bullock's Oriole will probably be caught, both of which we've had multiple records of in our yard. 

So far I've banded about 40 birds, and mostly resident species such as Northern Cardinal and Carolina Chickadee. As the depths of winter draw near I'm starting to see more Chipping Sparrows at the feeders and the orioles are starting to hit the grape jelly. Today was my best day so far.

adult female Baltimore Oriole - one of many I hope to catch this winter. Highest count of orioles in my yard at one time was 13. This winter has started off slow but as the natural food resources disappear the more activity we will see at our feeders.

hatch-year male Orange-crowned Warbler - we usually get several of this species visiting our feeders every winter

they really do have orange crowns!

and these guys really do have ruby crowns!

I do of course catch resident species like this hatch-year female Downy Woodpecker

and this adult Brown Thrasher

My biggest sample will obviously be Chipping Sparrows. The largest flock I've counted at one time was 130! So far I've caught 7 Chipping Sparrows and the current flock size is about 20 birds. I also aim to expand the project to other yards in Tallahassee to increase the return potential. The more birds you band the more returns you get. It will obviously take several years to come up with any data that may or may not be conclusive but it'll be fun finding out!

My wife, Julie took these wonderful pictures. Taking pictures of birds in the hand takes patience and she does a fantastic job! If there is one thing I cannot stand is bad in the hand bird pictures. I have Dave Walker to thank for illustrating to me the importance for good quality bird in the hand pictures.