Banding Marsh Sparrows

My Bird Rambles are spontaneous.  Before I meet my group , I look at the marshes and watch for birds.  This tells me where to go and what to show my guests.  So when I saw Tim Keyes and the crew preparing to band marsh sparrow, I knew what my group was going to see that day.  We got to the crew as they were taking the birds out of the nets.  So, I stood back and told my group to looking into the marsh.  The tide was super high so all the normally secretive sparrows were right up so we could watch wild sparrows moving around.  It was what makes birding an "in the moment" event.  We were there watching sharp-tailed sparrows.

Here is a picture of the crew taking birds out of the nets.Tim Keyes on the left and Charlie Muise on the right are working quickly and smoothly banding sparrows.

Here is a Nelson's Sparrow.  This bird is a target species for this on going marsh sparrow study here in Georgia.

Here is Charlie talking to my "Ramblers" about the Seaside Sparrow.

Priscilla is preparing to release a Seaside Sparrow under the direction of Todd. 

Lourdes not only learned that there were birds in the marsh called Seaside Sparrow, she got to release one. What a great morning!