Jan 19--Mist Net Duties

Thursday, January 19

Because of the rain, it is cool in the night and I pull my sleeping bag over me for the first time. I have been sleeping under my camp towel if I feel a little chilly.

Netted birds in their bags at the banding station; this photo from a previous Earthwatch group

In the morning we eat breakfast at 5:30 by candlelight and then open the mist nets at 6 am. Cathy and Jessica show me how to untangle the birds from the mist nets and how to hold them and put them in small cotton gingham bags, which a villager has sewn for the expedition. We first untangle the bird’s feet, and then its bill and then its wings. When we have freed it from the net, we place it in one of the gingham bags, cinch the top closed, wrap the cord around the top again and tie it, and then leave the bags in one of the net trammels while we go to the other nets and repeat the process. 

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Some of the larger birds and creepers peck viciously and have to be handled with care. The hummingbirds, surprisingly, are the most docile. One would expect them to flap and flail, but they lie inert in the net to conserve energy. After we’ve removed the birds from all of the nets, we collect them and carry them back to the banding station where we hang them in their bags on pegs marked with their net number.  When there are a lot of birds, we hang the bags on the finger corresponding to their net so that we do not get mixed up.

Cathy helps both Jessica and me learn to untangle the birds. Untangling and bagging the birds is not an easy task for the inexperienced . . . or sometimes for the experienced either. The birds can get remarkably entangled. Each tangle is different, and the bird may be held by a single thread, or may be wrapped up in the center of what appears to be an impossible knot. When you find an entangled bird, the goal is to get the bird out as quickly as possible without harming the bird or the net.

The problem is complicated by the fact that the bird may be struggling, it may be dark and difficult to see, insects may be eating you alive, you may be hot, tired, or hungry; sweat may be pouring off your forehead and stinging your eyes, and there may be other birds tangled in the same net awaiting your attention. If you try to hurry, the tangle just gets worse. But you must ignore any discomfort or complexity and remain calm. At first this was hard for me to do as I was so afraid of injuring the bird or of handling it so much that it died—which can happen.

The first job is to figure out which direction the bird was flying when it hit the net. If it hit the north side, then you'd better be on the north side of the net trying to untangle it or you'll find that there's always at least one layer of netting between you and the bird.

This may seem obvious, but unfortunately it's not that obvious in the field. The struggling bird may wind itself up in a horrible knot, with its little feet clenched around another knot of net. Especially if it's near the ground, it may have run back and forth under the net and effectively gotten tangled from both sides. The problem is often complicated by the fact that a bunch of twigs and leaves may be snarled up as well. But, no matter whether it's a one-thread tangle or a double-black-diamond Gordian knot, it's critical to concentrate fully on what you're doing. With the one-thread tangles it's very easy for the bird to escape; with the Gordian knot, almost everything you do seems to make the tangle worse, so you've got to select operations that improve the situation.

A Gordian Knot

I have two particular problems early in the morning. First, even with my glasses, I find it hard to see the fine black net buried in the feathers and figure out how the bird has entangled itself. Second, it is so hot, and I am so nervous, that my hands are sweaty and clammy, which is a problem when I grasp the birds because their feathers stick to my hands. I have more success mid-morning when it is lighter and after my eyes and body have adjusted, so begin a routine of letting Jessica and Cathy free the birds on the first two runs. I become the runner running the bagged birds back to the banding table—our picnic table under the dining shelter.

On one of our runs we find a bird that has gone through one trammel and then twisted itself into a lower trammel. It takes all three of us a long time to free the poor thing. Our first day of mist netting nets only 52 birds from all 20 nets, a third of them hummingbirds. All, of course are interesting, as most of us have not seen any of these species before. Cathy photographs each new species. (Most of the bird photos in this blog were taken by Cathy.) We net several woodcreepers, rusty colored birds with stiff hooks at the ends of their tail feathers. One, when let go, flies up onto the poles under the dining shelter thatch and stays there all morning.

Susan measures and takes the data and bands all the hummingbirds, while I or another record these data. Most of the hummingbirds caught today are either Baron’s Hermits or Green Crowned Brilliants, both fairly large hummingbirds. We feed these birds before releasing them so that they will regain their energy. One is so tuckered that it begins to close its eyes. We work on it, blowing gently in its face and repeatedly dipping its bill into the nectar until it finally begins to feed. The Brilliants will sit on your finger regaining their strength for quite awhile before flying off.

Top left clockwise: Erica feeding a banded hummingbird; Mauricio removing a bird from a mist net; Pascual with Red-billed Scythebill; banding a bird--the little film cans hold the different sized bands

Susan checking the field guide to ensure that we have identified the scythebill correctly (many look very similar); Susan and Donna recording data for Pascual; Susan fanning the tail of a speckled hummingbird; Susan's method of wrapping and weighing her hummingbirds

Pascual or Evelyng band and take the data on all birds other than hummingbirds, alternating volunteers for data entry. Marlene and Donna work best with Pascual as his pronunciation is difficult to decipher at times. For instance, he calls the gray-and-gold warbler, which we net several times, the “grin-go” warbler. This becomes a joke and all the gray-and-gold warblers soon become “gringos.”

After lunch, Susan asks for volunteers to hike to the hummingbird pasture to observe the hummingbirds for a couple of hours. Marlene and I and Erica, Evelyn, Chas, and Dawn  volunteer, and so set off after lunch, carrying extra nectar and feeders. On the way up, Evelyng and I who are hiking together see a tayra run across the path ahead of us. It looks to me like a large otter with a bushy tail. We also see a chestnut mandibled toucan. What a thrill!

Two photos from the Net of the Tayra--in the left photo one can see how it resembles a bushy-tailed otter; the right photo is of a grey-headed tayra

When we get to the pasture after an hour’s hike, we break into teams and observe and count the numbers and species of hummingbirds that visit our assigned feeder. Marlene and I  record violet bellied [4, 8], Green-crowned Brilliant [3], Rufous-tailed [7], Brown Violetear [2], Speckled [5], Amazilia [6], and Andean Emeralds [1]. The feeders are “ruled” by the Violet-bellies with the Rufous-tails being the most nervous, looking every which way for danger and barely daring to drink.

Susan is studying the endangered Esmeralda Woodstar hummingbird, but because it has been drier than normal for this time of year, we do not see any over the two weeks we are in the cloud forest. The Esmeralda, which looks a bit like our Ruby-throated Hummingbird, weighs only about 1.7 grams and is a little larger than a bumblebee. Below are photos of an Esmeralda Woodstar (left) and a Little Woodstar that I pulled from the Internet.

I was the first one down from the pasture so claimed the first shower. How good these bucket showers are after a hot sweaty day. I am soaked through after climbing to the mist nets to open them first thing in the morning and remain sweat soaked for the day. It’s not that it is so terribly hot (we get little direct sun because we are under the cover of the trees), but it is very close with nearly 100% humidity.

It has been a satisfactory and productive first day of “work,” and after a good dinner, I crawl into my tent for the night feeling good about the day.