Wildlife Festival at Montezuma NWR

AMGO

 I have felt like sharing my experience of helping out at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge for a while, so I am going to do a post about it even though it was back in May of 2012. I was lucky enough to be able to assist my professor, John Van Neil from Finger Lakes Community College with a bird banding booth at the festival. We set up one mist net near the feeders that are just outside of the Audubon center in Wayne county. At first we thought we may not be able to set up the net at all due to the wind, but it died down a little and we made sure that someone could see the net at all times. Through out the day we caught 4 different birds, all males. First we got an American Goldfinch, then a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Red-winged Blackbird and the last was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I helped John watch the net and helped in the banding process while John explained what we were doing to the public.

Red-Wing Blackbird

Removing the bird from the net

Aging the bird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Near the end of the day the head of the Finger Lake Community College Conservation Dept brought out her captive Bald Eagle, Liberty. Liberty is in her mid-20's but has been in captivity since she broke her wing in AK at the age of 6 months. 

Liberty the Bald Eagle