Video of Hummingbird Banding!

At the recent Advanced Training Rally, some Virginia Master Naturalists were fortunate to not only hear a keynote address by ornithologist Bruce Peterjohn of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, but also to do some hummingbird banding with him. Bruce works on many of the bird population monitoring programs run by the center, but has particular interests in hummingbirds and the appearance of western hummingbird species on the east coast during the winter. He got connected with the Central Virginia Master Naturalists when he came down last winter to catch and band one a Rufous hummingbird that showed up a Master Naturalist's home.


Virginia Master Naturalists who attended Bruce's field session at the Rally got to see how one bands and measures these tiny birds. One volunteer (Melanie Swick) took some great videos so that you can see how it is done, even if you weren't there! Check them out on the Virginia Master Naturalist Smugmug site!