The very first net check revealed that it was going to be a great day when we caught 4 evening grosbeaks. I insisted that we stop for a moment to take photo's of the grosbeaks but Pacey, Cameron and Gabe were not reassured by my notion that while they might bite it is not too bad.
We banded a couple of hours and did very well. Young birders and banders often want to catch a new species. Today for these kerns kids the bird of interest was a red winged blackbird but before we caught the red-winged we caught and banded a fox sparrow a bird we often never catch and the ever nomadic evening grosbeaks.
The challenge for new banders is that they want to catch as many birds as they can but it is only when things slow down that we have time to train. Today we had a bit of both. A very busy morning followed by a windy late morning of not too many birds giving us the chance to have three young banders band their first birds.
If these young banders keep up the interest they may make it to the next level of marsh bandit. At this point they will be able to help independently with research at the marsh and consolidate their skills. For these kerns kids this is a long way off but they did impress me today and their efforts and enthusiasm helped us catch the following 68 birds
April 26th marsh totals
american tree sparrow 42
slate coloured junco 11
evening grosbeak 4
song sparrow 3
chickadee 2
white throated sparrow 2
ruby crowned kinglet 1
fox sparrow 1
red-winged black bird 1
american kestrel 1
68 birds 10 species
Thanks to Delphine Churman and Kerns Public kids
Pacey Aitchison
Cameron Aitchison
Gabe Neill
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