Mon, Jul 06, 2009
 Susan Campbell, a certified hummingbird bander, measures a male juvenile broad-billed hummer captured at Sabino Canyon. She records his species, sex and age before attaching a band and setting him free again. The little bird weighs less than a penny. Photos by Lindsay A. Miller
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RANCHO RESORT MAINTANANCE POSITION Mechanical Komatsu Equipment Co Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing Everready Glass Sales Reps Administrative & Professional Jorgensen Brooks Group Counselor Finance and Accounting Charles E. Gillman Company Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional Tucson Urban League CEO/President AccentBirding: Little whirlybirdsYou can go watch as a local conservation group captures and bands hummingbirds
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.08.2006
They weigh about as much as a penny, hover like helicopters and then dart through the air like tiny jets on a mission.
We're talking hummingbirds — and you're invited to get a close-up look at these little aerial acrobats as researchers capture the birds, weigh them, fit them with identification bands, feed them and release them.
"Our goal in banding the birds is to detect trends in hummingbird populations and identify potential problems," says Susan Wethington, an avian ecologist and executive director of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network.
The network is a nonprofit conservation program aimed at maintaining hummingbird diversity and abundance in the Western Hemisphere.
The public is invited to view the group's banding work free at sites, including Sabino Canyon northeast of Tucson and Ramsey Canyon near Sierra Vista. (See the accompanying box for banding-site times and locations.)
"One of the joys of working with hummingbirds is that they're not particularly sensitive to people," Wethington says. "People can come to within a few feet to watch."
Erika Breckel, a spokeswoman with the Sierra Vista Convention and Visitors Bureau, has observed banding and once had a hummingbird sit briefly on her hand before it was released.
"I'm not sure that I could even feel its weight," Breckel says. "It was just a surreal moment of holding a penny weight of warm feathers."
Banding is restricted to people who've been trained to do the work without harming the birds, says Wethington, whose certification with the North American Banding Council allows her to train others in techniques.
"To do this work, we need a federal permit, a state permit and permission from the land owner and manager" where banding takes place, she says.
"The bands are provided by a federal government agency," Wethington says. "All the banded birds are reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory" of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Each band, made of an aluminum alloy, has one letter and five numbers to identify the bird wearing it. The ID information is provided to the Bird Banding Laboratory with corresponding information on the bird's species, age, sex, date of banding and location.
Wethington said banders capture birds using a device known as the Hall trap after luring them to feeders.
"I can manage a bird in less than two minutes," she says. "I band it, measure it, check its condition, weigh it, feed it and release it on its way."
Banders aren't likely to suffer injuries from hefting the birds.
"A male black-chinned hummingbird weighs about 2.8 grams," Wethington says. "A penny made with copper weighs 3.1 grams."
She says larger species, such as the magnificent hummingbird, put in more than their two-cents worth — weighing 6.5 to 8 grams.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
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