MAPS

Last month I began volunteering at a MAPS station in Morro Bay. MAPS stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship. It is a nation-wide program run through the Institute for Bird Populations (http://www.birdpop.org/maps.htm) to monitor population trends and migration of over 120 different bird species at over 500 different MAPS stations across the continent. We catch birds in mist nets and band them. I began banding birds when I monitored snowy plovers and their chicks in Monterey Bay and I love it. It takes care and confidence to handle and band birds, and there's nothing like holding a beautiful bird and seeing all the beautiful colors of its feathers in hand. I will volunteer seven times over the next three months. We start ten minutes before sunrise and keep the nets open for six hours. I've met many interesting and great biologists this past month and am really enjoying the volunteer time! Here are a few pictures from this week:

A pair of Lawrence's goldfinches (female is on the left). I rarely see this species while birding, so it was neat to see them so close.

Here I am holding a California thrasher (check out that bill!). These birds spend most of their time on the ground so they have really strong legs, I had to hold them firmly to its body to keep it from kicking)