Teaching
Originally uploaded by Noisypond.
Last Sunday morning - EARLY! - I attended a bird-handling workshop at the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station (TTPBRS). Lori, a volunteer with FLAP, taught us how to properly handle live songbirds.
The TTPBRS captures migrating birds through the use of gentle mist nets. They then examine, band, and release the birds, capturing important data that will be used to monitor the health of various bird populations.
We were there as FLAP volunteers to learn how to handle live birds. When we pick up injured birds, they are already very stressed and need to be handled properly. The birds captured at TTPBRS are healthy and much less stressed, so it was better to learn with them.I took a lot of pictures. You can see them all here, although I will post some of what I consider to be the highlights on this blog. Note though that these are not exactly the pinnacle of photographic excellence, as I didn't have the proper lighting, and the whole point of the session was to receive training on handling and identifying birds, not photographing them (I think if I'd asked for people to move out of the way or to turn the birds into a better lighting position, Lori would have dispensed with me quite quickly! LOL).
But overall the experience was very cool.
2 comments:
Wow, I can't believe what good pictures you got. Those birds must be used to being handled!
I guess they were worth getting up early for :)
Hi Jay!
Thanks for the compliment. Lori held most of the birds when they were in the "photographer's pose" (held by the legs rather than around the neck like we newbies had to). She has a lot of experience and confidence handling the birds, and I believe they can feel it. I honestly think she prefers birds to people and I think they sense that too. :)
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