This week we went to Big Bald Banding station in Mars Hill, North Carolina. There we caught, banded, and released Tennessee Warblers, a Wood Thrush, a Crimson Crown Kinglet, and a Merlin Falcon. These birds are migrating to Costa Rica and Mexico where they will spend the winter. The smaller birds stop at Big Bald to eat and rest for the remainder of their trip south. The smaller migrating birds are being followed by the larger birds. The birds following the song birds are the raptors. They are following the song birds because they are their food source.
We caught these birds in special nets in the woods. These nets are designed to capture the birds without hurting them. The bird flies into the net and gets tangled up in the pockets. The volunteers go and check the nets every thirty minutes. The nets for the raptors are thicker. That way they will not bust through. The nets for the raptors are also baited with a fake owl because they will take each others' food.
The Tennessee Warbler miagrates back to Canada for the spring and summer. The Tennessee Warbler is a small greenish song bird. You determine the gender of the bird by the length of the wing. Males have wings that are 65 mm or more long. Females have wings 64 mm or smaller.
The Merlin Falcon is a smaller falcon. As an adult it will be gray. They are very fast, but not the fastest. Their gender is determined by wing length. It has some of the best eyes of the North American birds.
After banding birds we went to Orchard Lake Campground in Saluda. we go to this camp ground every year. At the campground there was a zipline, a large pond, canoeing, and many other fun things! That night we roasted hot dogs over the fire. We then told ghost stories while roasting s'mores. Everyone camped in tents. During the night a raccoon came into the camp looking for leftovers. Even though it was cool outside, it was still very fun. Unfortunately we only stayed one night. That morning we all got up, ate a braekfast of cereal and pop-tarts, took down the tents, said goodbye, and went home.