bird banding

For the past three mornings i have been helping to band birds. We use mist nets that we set up in areas known to have a variety of indigenous and migrating birds. This time we set the nets up at the Sandy Point Refuge.

Birds fly into the nets which are strung up between aluminum poles. (Double click on the image to the left for a better view) Once a bird gets stuck in the net they become frantic trying to get out, so every 15 minutes we do a pass by and collect whomever has had the misfortune to get caught. We put them in bags to calm them down and take them back to the data tent. Here we put a band on their leg, measure their beak, wing and tail, check the brood patch and whether they are molting or not. Then we release them back into the wild.

Doing this type of work with people who challenge, encourage and teach one another to reach a higher level of expertise is wonderful. All along the way we have to cooperate and include each other to protect the birds and get the job done as quickly and painlessly as possible.

If there had been any one of us that didn't try to be inclusive, speak kindly, or acknowledge the others it could have been a miserable three days.

Lucky for us we worked well together.

Although this is my second time banding i was thinking about how the teaching was done without criticism. Teaching without criticism reinforced the lessons learned and kept the environment calm and productive. Everyone reached out to help any one else that was having a problem removing a bird from the net, trying to get a band on a squirmy leg, or just doing the simple measurements and jotting down data. All of us changed roles and participated in every aspect of the banding job.

If any one of us had been self absorbed, or thinking they didn't need help it would have been a nightmare. Which brings me to my point today.

Those that believe the individual is solely responsible for eventual outcomes are deluding themselves. Team work gets the job done quicker and more efficiently. Even if a leader sets out achievable goals they may not meet those goals if the group can't work together.

Which brings me to children. Raising children to think only of themselves and that they are self sufficient and only responsible for themselves makes for difficult adults later in life. People avoid them and it impacts the final product. Incivility does have tangible costs in the workplace and can be a major deterrent to getting anything done.

Peggy Tabor Millin wrote a short piece on interacting that I found in a book about civility. The image of the raindrops remains with me and may with you after you read this.

"I was on a train on a rainy day. The train was slowing down to pull into a station. For some reason I became intent on watching the raindrops on the window. Two separate drops, pushed by the wind, merged into one for a moment and then divided again--each carrying with it a part of the other. Simply by that momentary touching, neither was what it had been before. And as each one went to touch other raindrops, it shared not only itself, but what it had gleaned from the other. I saw this metaphor many years ago and it is one of my most vivid memories. I realized then that we never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace. Our state of being matters to those around us, so we need to become conscious of what we unintentionally share so we can learn to share with intention."

How can any one of us ignore the amount of interacting we do on a daily basis? If we are civil to each other the possibility of misunderstanding is reduced when we have a clear sense of our impact. Do not go mindlessly about your business, stay present and try to understand how you affect others.





PS Hope is still here on St. Croix. She is still at Great Pond, moving around, eating and sleeping. It has been a month now and maybe she will stay with us until she returns to the mainland. We have seen her since the first time with another Whimbrel and are glad to see she has company.
i will let you know if anything changes.