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Sights: Bald Mountain
We hardly made any miles today but we don't care because we caught a bird. Not us personally, but on the top of Big Bald Mountain they were tagging birds. As we came into the clearing there was a sign that warned us not to linger as they are trapping and tagging hawks. We assumed that they meant "sometimes" they are doing that so when we got up there and saw all the nets, we just assumed it was left up for another day. But then we saw the pigeon in its protective leather jacket and of course we lingered long enough to take some pictures and get yelled at. As we left the clearing, there were some volunteers set up to chat with us about their activities. We ended up chatting long enough to do a net check with them. Aside from the hawk netting, they have 19 other nets set up to catch small song birds and warblers. They caught no hawks while we were there but we did get to see them tag a Ruby-headed kinglet. It was very exciting and the man, Mark, running the affair was so enthusiastic that both Jamie and I were thrilled to see or hear any bird while we were up there with him.
Something we learned: small song birds migrate at night. There are less predators at night and more consistent wind patterns. Often, they fly in mixed groups. The type of monitoring that they are doing is called "stop-over ecology." Mark was telling us that for years people were curious about where they (birds) go and when. He was saying that now they know where they go and people are starting to be interested in what they do on the way. He said this research is interesting because it also helps people to decide how to manage these areas.
If you are interested in the work they are doing, their website is:
Www.bigbaldbanding.org
P.S. One of the volunteers shared his gluten free chocolate/orange cookies and it was heaven.
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