Hummingbirds!!!

Last weekend there was a special program here at Montauk State Park. Lanny Chambers, a master bird bander who specializes in hummingbirds, was set up in front of the lodge on Sunday and spent the morning capturing,measuring, banding, and releasing hummingbirds, while his wife Linda recorded all the information. They were here a month ago, but I didn’t get any pictures because it started raining shortly after they started, and handling hummingbirds with wet fingers can catch on the feathers and injure the birds. So, happily, I was able to watch Lanny in action again!

They will be here one more time this year, on Labor Day weekend.

The bait for the trap was a hummingbird feeder, with a cage set up around it and a trapdoor attached to a string. Once the birds got inside, the door came down. Now all that was left was to catch them!

Sometimes it took a few tries.

He carried them over to the table in a mesh bag, but the rest of the time he was holding them in his fingers. The whole delicate operation was absolutely fascinating to watch.

He wraps the bird gently in the cut-off toe from a pair of pantyhose, and weighs it.

Measuring the length of the bill.

Shape of the wing feathers tells if it is male or female. These were mostly male ruby-throated hummingbirds, already starting to migrate; the females migrate later.

The wing length is also measured.

If the bird is already banded, they record the number. If not, it gets a new tiny metal bracelet. And I do mean tiny. Hummingbirds have very slim ankles.

The best part was when the measuring was done. Lanny would pick someone from the crowd of bystanders – kids first, usually – and have them hold out their hand, and place the hummingbird on it, on its back.

Usually it would just lie there – it was basically frozen at this point, wondering why we didn’t eat it after we grabbed it. But after a few seconds to admire it and for the releaser to feel the vibration of a hummingbird heart beating veryfastindeed, they were directed to roll it gently over. Once it was facing right-side-up, the instincts would kick back in and ZOOOM!!! It was outta there.

I got to do that with one of the few that they caught when they were here in July. It was amazing. It was amazing getting to watch others do it this time.

Sometimes there would be two hummingbirds in the trap, and one would just have to sit on the table in its bag while he was working on the other one.

Here Lanny was pointing out the splotch of yellow pollen on the bird’s forehead, indicating it had just been eating from a trumpet creeper flower. Can’t get the nectar without entering into a contract to pollinate! What I hadn’t considered was that different flowers will have the pollen contact in different spots so as not to cross-pollinate. Nature is amazing! Hummingbirds particularly so!

Check out Lanny Chambers' website: http://www.hummingbirds.net/