Bird banding and bird releasing!

We went to the World Bird Sanctuary this morning for a bird banding demonstration.

Nets were put up this morning near bird feeders to catch song birds. 

We saw a cardinal and a mourning dove get caught.

The net doesn’t hurt the bird… here’s the cardinal in the net…

Then the bird is checked out and certain info is recorded. Wing measurement, sex identified (or not), age (hatchling or older), molting or not, and weight.

 The bird is banded with a number… its an aluminum band- except for the cardinals who can crimp the soft metal… they get steel!

We watched as the birds were examined! They gave the young cardinal a coffee stirrer to bite on because otherwise he was looking for fingers to chew on!

The real highlight was being able to hold and release the birds!!!

Simone releasing a Chickadee…

Edison releasing a Tufted Titmouse…

Andre and Eli releasing a Tufted Titmouse…

Me… releasing a cardinal…

This was such a great hands-on experience to watch scientists studying nature!

The kids LOVED it… and so did I!

😄 🐦😄🐦😄🐦😄🐦

• Posted in: field trips ♦ Unschooling in the community ♦ Wild Family
• Tagged: birds, education, homeschool, nature, outdoors, saint louis, science, unschool, wildlife