Follow Up On Banded Trumpeter Swan

First A couple of announcements: I'll be on Showcase Minnesota this morning sometime between 10am - 11am answering your bird questions.

And the next Birds and Beers is scheduled for this Sunday at 4pm at Joe's Garage to try and watch the winter crow roost. Now, the crows have shifted the roost a little bit to the west but we'll still have some crow action.

I got a certificate yesterday from the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center regarding the history of the above trumpeter swan with the neck collar 2M7 at Point Douglas:

This is a male trumpeter swan hatched in 2006 in Ruthven, Iowa by Mr. Guy Zenner.

Still no word on the Canada goose with the tight band, I'll be curious to see if I hear about the origin of that goose.

Neck Bands on Swans and Geese

So, when I was out looking at the harlequin duck last week, I found a few banded birds at Point Douglas. It's not the first time, last winter I got video of a banded trumpeter swan. I sent the band info along to the Bird Banding Lab and it turned out the bird was from Iowa. I saw the above swan with a neck band and noticed that it had a different code and sent that along to the lab. I'm still waiting to see where this bird came from. But notice how the band is moving up and down the swan's neck. Above, the bird is just taking its head out of the water and the band has slid towards the head.

Here that same swan is preening and you can see that the band has moved back down. These types of bands are used on swans and geese to track individuals and where they are going. There's no way you'd be able to do id that particular swan with just a leg band (even if they are out of the water). Those metal bands on the legs are too tiny to read. But the bright plastic neck bands are easy to spot and read with a scope or binoculars. Because of the reintroduction program with trumpeter swans, it's not out of the ordinary to see one here and there.

It is, however, unusual to see bands on a Canada goose these days. You used to see it all the time with the Canada goose reintroduction in the 1980s but by now it's an understatement to say that the geese are well established so it's not so common. But what really struck me about this goose was how tight the neck band appeared. I took this photo the same day, during the same time period as I did the trumpeter swan. The goose's band did not move like the swan's neck band did. It did not look comfortable at all. At first, I thought that maybe this was a fluke that maybe I caught this bird at a bad angle, but all my photos look the same, the band looks tight and does not move no matter what position the goose was in.

Then, earlier this week, this story appeared in the Duluth paper about a Canada goose that had Ice build up on its neck band. If you follow the link, you can see photos--the ice is about the size of a dinner plate. It has a happy ending, rescuers were able to get the goose and remove the ice and the collar but it has me questioning neck bands used for Canada geese.

I have to say, I'm a bander, and I see the value of neck bands--I truly do. But I think we need to rethink how neck collars are designed for some species. Even if the Canada goose in my photos is fine and the BBL backs it up with research and studies that say those collars look bad but are comfortable and fine for the geese--it's not a good advertising for banding. If someone knows nothing about banding saw that, they'd have a hard time seeing the value of banding and that it's not harmful for the banded birds.

Doubled My Birding, Doubled My Pleasure

So, I tell my dear sweet husband, I'm finished with my blog vacation, I have material, I have renewed enthusiasm...and then life hits. We have the best mechanic--we go to Amigo (I chose them because of they had bird houses and a bird calendar in their waiting area--you can trust mechanics who watch birds, plus they have good trusty worthy names like Todd and Pete). Anyway, the boys have been warning NBB and I that we need a new car and once it started making a very loud noise, Pete informed me that it's a repair and it would be better to put that money towards a new car rather than investing in this one. Ah, it was nice not having a car payment while it lasted. Now, I have to look for a new car (blah) and time for blogging goes toward car research and a car broker.

In the meantime, birding has been fabulous. Last time I was at Carpenter Nature Center, we had a great day. Cedar waxwings were still out in force--although the dogwoods that been bursting with berries that were ravenously devoured by bluebirds and lurking native sparrows are now bare and quiet.

The flocks were mix of hatch year and adult birds--the birds with vertical stripes on their belly where hatched this year. They hung out in the trees and periodically flew out for the few insects that were out or down to the pond for sip and a quick bathe. The insects are taking advantage of the rare November warm weather we have going on right now (what a change from the three inches of snow we had a month previous).

We had quite the nuthatch day! Earlier in the season when I was at Frank Taylor's blind in northern MN, the trees sounded like they were dripping with red-breasted nuthatches. It was great to see some arriving in big numbers in and around the Twin Cities. We had a fun comparison with a male white-breasted nuthatch and a female red-breasted nuthatch. The male has a dark cap, the female has a lighter cap.

Here's another comparison--this time of two red-breasted nuthatches. A make (again with the dark cap) and a female (again with the light cap).

We also had the joy of two male ruby-crowned kinglets hitting the nets at the same time. Love the double ruby crowns! They will be just about gone here soon. Sigh.

The other thing that has gotten in the way of my blogging this week is that I'm rehearsing a show with NBB's new theater project: Theatre Arlo (they do whatever the Guthrie is doing but on a $50 budget). After over a 5 year hiatus, I'm returning to the stage as an actor! When Bill and his partner Matthew Foster announced that they were going to produce A Christmas Carol in the style of a Golden Girls episode (yes, that Golden Girls), I said, "I'm not traveling much this fall, I'd like to audition."

Next thing I know, Matthew said, "You can be Sophia's sister!"

And there it is, I'm kind of like the "special guest star" or the Nancy Walker of the show (which make me incredibly happy). It's a hilarious show and the cast for the main four leads is hilarious. If you're in the Twin Cities and love the Golden Girls, come see us at the Bryant Lake Bowl. NBB has a part in it too, so you can see us both act. Yes, all my friends who have met NBB and noted how quiet he is...he can be chatty and funny on stage.