Marcia and I go bird banding… (VA)

At last night’s social a guest described the process of bird banding, and the large scale banding project taking place the next morning with the help of many volunteers.

Since the weather was good and we had the time and suspected Dee would be annoyed if we didn’t do it, Marcia and I set out about 8:15 AM to see the bird banding process. We walked to the approximate location and began following some temporary signs marked with directional arrows. The signs continued longer than we expected, with no banders in sight; then a sign appeared marked “5K” and a little latter another “5K” sign. We spotted a couple of long net fences and some birders and learned we had been following the path of a marathon held the previous weekend.

 Unfortunately, in the little time we had left, no birds were caught for banding, an anticlimax for our early morning efforts. But it was a short walk back to our camp.