Banding Day

Today we spent the whole day checking old nest sites to see if the chicks were old enough to band. We ended up banding nine chicks in total. This kind of work is a lot less strenuous and more fun than just surveying all the time. Unfortunately, there are not too many days like this. I certainly feel more comfortable handling the chicks now, although not the adults. I got a lot of good chick pictures, and I want to post them as soon as possible, but I can't do it from the internet cafe.

When the chicks feel too warm, they actually pant like a dog, with their tongue hanging out. I didn't know birds did that.