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Hummingbird Banding Dunton, Colorado

I am part of a group of volunteers that helps to band these birds in the summertime.  First we set up a trap and put a sugar water feeder in it.  Once the birds come in for a few sips, we gently put them into a mesh bag and take them to our trained Bird Bander.  To learn more about this process, please visit the Hummingbird Monitoring Network.
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Trap set-up, birds feeding

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We gently put them into a mesh bag

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Hummingbird taking a sip

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Closed net

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 The bag is closed quickly and taken to be measured, recorded and collect other data

Mary taking the bird inside to be weighted, sexed, banded (if not already), identified what type.  In our area we get mostly broad-tailed, black chinned, rufous, and the occasional caliope

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Karen, our bander, doing a measurement on a rufous male

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Checking for pollen

Measuring the beak

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Karen, getting ready to put a tiny band on a tiny leg. We will use this information next year to see if this particular one comes back to our area

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Checking the wings and feathers for damage

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Phil recording, birds waiting to be banded, another volunteer helping

We weigh the birds before letting them fly free. This one weighs only 3.3 grams

We give the little bird a sip of sugar water before releasing back into the wild

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