Vic Prislipsky, Group Leader
Sixteen of us made the 2 hour plus drive to visit Tana Beasley at the Potlatch (Cooks Lake) Education Center east of Stuttgart. Perfect weather, Hummingbirds galore, we couldn't ask for much more. Tana's presentation was informative as usual.
The real fun started when she demonstrated, with the help of Trena and Will, the procedure of capturing and banding Hummers. Dozens and dozens of gluttonous Hummers made the capture seem easy. Then came the surgeon's precision chore of measuring wings and bills to the 1/100 of an inch, weighing, judging the sex, the amount of body fat and aging by bill development. Oh yeah, then placing the tiniest imaginable band on the Hummer's leg.
Lots of hands went up when Tana asked, "who wants to release this Hummingbird." Much thanks to Tana and crew, everyone who wanted to release one did. The looks on their faces as they felt the motor-like hum of a tiny heart against their palm, a moment of hesitation and then the lightning quick takeoff to freedom.
Hummingbird bander, Tana Beasley, shares the thrill of releasing a hummingbird with HSV Audubon member Joi Burton.
No Field Trips are scheduled in the near future. The Christmas Bird Count is our next major Field activity. Keep an eye on hsvbirds.org for any updates.