This was a Saturday Meetup at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory in Lake Jackson, Texas. The drive there in itself was fun. We talked , listened to Chinese and Children's music and made a good day out of it. When we got there and finally watched what they were doing, they had only two birds left, but what I didn't know, is that they would be bringing more. So, we saw a humming bird and a cardinal and then they went to show us the nets that they catch them with. Then , we came back to the table and saw quite a few more birds. We learned about humming birds- how they weigh between a penny and a nickel, between 2-3 grams and 6 grams. They measure the tiny hummingbirds by putting them in a black hollow tube. They weigh more when they are migrating and they have a nice plump body. This is the fat and energy they will use on their migration. Then, we learned how to tell a male and a female cardinal apart shortly after birth. The male will have some red on his chest early on and black on the top front part of his head, above the beak. The female will not have any of these. Cardinals are born with a black beak, which slowly turn red. This last feature can be used to tell the age of any sex of Cardinal, by the degree or amount of black that is left. He was able to calm the cardinals down for a short period of time by waving his finger back and forth, sort of like a hypnosis. Actually, one of the first two birds we saw was a painted bunting. It is a grey bird with a green chest (blue and red if male) if memory serves me right. The next was a acadian fly catcher and this bird was studied for a long time to determine which one it was. Apparently, they live in two different areas and have a breeding time specific to the type of flycatcher and since this bird did not have any feathers molting, they knew it was not a recent hatchling and so it must be acadia. Also, it had a wider beak. They measured the distance the tip of the beak and nares was 9, and was a value in which it could have been either species. Another one we saw was the water thrush, this one and the Acadian flycatcher migrate and are not full time residents. As a result, they do not need to put on extra body fat. By the way, these people measure fat on a scale of 0-5, which 0 meaning no observable body fat. They do this using there eyes and they blow on the belly of the bird.
Another bird we saw with beautiful brownish-red feathers was a Carolina Wren. Another one we saw, and Megan released, was a Chick a Dee.
Another bird we saw with beautiful brownish-red feathers was a Carolina Wren. Another one we saw, and Megan released, was a Chick a Dee.
