Sugarite Park is for the Birds!

When we visited Sugarite Canyon State Park yesterday, they gave us a flyer describing the "Bodacious Butterfly and Bird Festival" on the weekend.  Mark wasn't keen on setting the alarm, but he is such a good sport he agreed to get up at 5:45 in order to get to the park before the first program started at 7:00 a.m.  Denisa was most interested in the earliest program because it was "Hummingbird Banding."

Mark was wearing a shirt from the university we retired from--Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and Denisa's visor had a SWOSU logo.  The two rangers running the banding program immediately recognized those logos because they are both alumni.  It was fun watching our graduates in action!  They both work at Capulin National Park, where they spearhead a bird banding program that is always open to the public.

We had never witnessed a bird banding before, and we found it very interesting!  The hummingbird feeders have an apparatus around it that will drop a net when a bird comes to drink.

The trapping team has to have a good trigger finger to drop that netting before those swift humming birds can sense the movement and fly away.

This will form a temporary cage around the bird so that the ranger can put it into a net bag.

A tiny leg is exposed from the bag, and carefully measured for the correct size band. If the band is too large, it could fall off.  A too-small band would hurt the bird.

The bands are already printed with a letter and five digits that will identify the bird.  The bands are cut into strips of ten, and you can see how tiny they are when compared with Mark's thumb.

These strips are then cut into individual pieces and curled into bands of varying sizes.

A special pair of pliers, sized perfectly for the size of the band, is then used to put the band onto that tiny hummingbird leg.

After banding, measurements are taken of each bird.  Their tail feathers are measured, as are their beaks.

It will also be categorized as male or female, and adult or juvenile.  Juveniles were hatched this season, and there are very subtle differences (such as a grooves on the beak) that differentiate their age from the adults.

The ranger blows on the feathers to get an idea of the amount of body fat, and to see if an adult female is carrying an egg.

The hummingbird is also carefully weighed, now in a little hummingbird straight jacket on a very accurate scale.

The last stop before release is a good shot of hummingbird nectar.  This bird was rewarded handsomely until it was no longer thirsty, then placed on a child's hand before it flew away.

It was a slow morning, as there were only two hummers caught in the trap in the hour we were there.  But the rangers made it interesting, and we were glad we set the alarm to get up early this morning!   From 8-9 a.m. we went on the guided bird watch.  We have no good pictures, but we were schooled on flycatchers, swallows, cowbirds, orioles, grosbeak, and warblers.  We saw ten different birds before we got out of the visitor center area.  Our guide is a very experienced birder, and could identify the birds from their songs without even seeing them.

At 9:00, we had "Breakfast with a Hawk."  Free donuts, coffee and juice were provided, and a woman that cares for injured birds introduced us to two of her flock.  The first, a Swainson's Hawk was injured on an electrical wire and can no longer hunt.

Named "Cree", she is 21 years old, and has been used for educational programs for many years.  When the breeze came through the trees, she opened her wings and displayed what a beautiful bird she was.

The next bird was not nearly as pretty, but the turkey vulture has its role as clean up crew in nature.  She pointed out that its bald head is easier to keep clean after some of the rank meals it consumes.

 Since we are becoming educated birders, we now know that these birds shouldn't be called "buzzards."  That's an old English term for a different kind of bird that word accidentally came over with Englishmen long ago.  Sophisticated birders like us know a vulture is not a buzzard.  Again, this bird caught the breeze and showed off his three foot left wing.  The right wing was broken and fused together improperly in the wild, so he can't fly and take care of himself.

In the middle of the bird demonstration, the resident wild turkey strolled by.  Named "Alice" because she resides in Alice Campground, she didn't want to be upstaged by the visiting fowl.

Before leaving Sugarite Canyon State Park, we made the 2 mile hike straight up the side of the canyon to see the coal mine that used to operate here in the early 1900's.  A whole town was built in this canyon for the coal miners and their families, so the trail took us by the remains of that once booming town.  We took a picture of Mark at the top of the canyon where the huge cables were used to tow the coal cars out of the mine, and then down into the waiting railroad cars.

After an early morning wake up call, we headed back home to spend the afternoon relaxing.  We had to rest up for the evening's event.  We found out that the local rodeo was finishing up tonight, and the rodeo dance was scheduled for 9:00.  No pictures because it was dark inside, but we had a great time at the dance.  The live band was local, and we sat at a table with a couple that had been married 61 years.  We seldom see a couple that is out on the dance floor as much as we are, but they gave us a run for our money--not bad for a couple in their mid-80's.  He explained that he doesn't dance as much as he used to because he had two knee replacement surgeries recently.  They have owned the local western store for the last 60 years, and everyone in town seems to know them.  It was another great local day!