HWBS Banding Oct 20, 2008

It was pretty cold Tuesday when we got to the banding station. My crazy birder husband, thinks frigid weather is just fine for birding and/or bird banding! I on the other hand believe that if it is so cold that you can't feel the snot running out of your nose, then it is too cold to be outside. I believe the truck said the outside temp was about 28F when we got there before dawn. Thankfully, the weather did not deter the birds from hitting the nets. We had a great variety of birds that morning including this beautiful Northern Flicker.

Several Miami University (Miami of Ohio, that is... the real Miami!) students working on research projects and training for banding certification, braved the cold weather that morning to come out and help. With 15 layers of clothing and wool blankets wrapped around them, the crew proceeded to process about 30 birds. Even Baby Mama, who is in her 9th month of pregancy came out to help record data. Now, that is a woman's woman!

Not only was my crazy birder husband happy to be out freezing his you-know-what's, but this equally adventurous group of community members arrived! It was a great opportunity to use the Flicker to discuss aging, sexing and molt limits in woodpeckers. They were fascinated!

One of the ongoing studies at our banding stations is the collection of data on mycoplasma. Mycoplasma are bacteria that do not have a cell wall. They invade cells and cause destruction and disease.