Each year we try to attend the Grand Isle Bird Fest. It’s usually around the middle of April and often coincides with a fallout. A fallout of birds happens when the birds migrate north across the Gulf of Mexico and run into a strong cold front. The north winds tire the birds and they, “Fall out”, on the first Island or land they reach.
There they feed voraciously, regaining their strength before continuing their northward migration. At this year’s bird fest, a strong fallout occurred. In conjunction with the bird fest the Audubon Society, with Federal Permits
, conducted a bird banding operation.
The Audubon Society, puts out mist nets which are almost invisible to the birds. They fly into them and usually get entangled, allowing one to carefully capture them and place them in a sack for study and banding. (at one time twenty bird sacks were waiting for the researcher)!
The nets are constantly checked, and the birds quickly placed in bags and then delivered by a runner to the tagging area, (at one time twenty bird sacks were waiting for the researcher)!
There they are identified and weighed, by placing them in an open plastic pill bottle, The are also measured for length and age by blowing on their feathers to study the maturity of the bird.
They are finally leg banded with a seven or eight digit number and then released unharmed.
It was really amazing to watch bird experts conduct the trapping and tagging. On the first day 97 birds were captured, including four painted buntings. Renita and I were passing by when one male bunting flew into the net!
It was amazing to watch the study as it was happening! Thanks Renita for taking such great pictures of the banding operation. Clear skies
Very interesting post. We never did get to see a fallout. Stay safe and healthy.
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