Songbirds of the Rocky Mountains in a (haiku) nutshell

Waking up at dawn
To locate the hidden nests
One must have patience

The Circle of Life

We had been hearing all week about Blacktail Pond. On this, our final day of nest searching, Jen insisted that we stay together. Blacktail Pond, located in the heart of Grand Teton National Park, is the site with the least human impact. There was a high degree of danger and Jen would sweep the area first looking for signs of large animals. Field partners would not be enough; we would search together and occasionally sub-divide into groups of four.

We descended down a bluff and into a meadow that was closed to visitors due to restoration; however, as field researchers, we were permitted to search the area and check on Jen's nine nests. Throughout our search, we saw signs of moose, bear, and bison.

My field partner Chris and I, along with Ann and Alan, were near the river, following the chipping of a yellow warbler. I looked to the right to a large thicket of willow, and saw the nest three feet off the ground. I walked over to the nest, and saw a nestling that I believed to be fledging. It appeared to be on a branch by the nest. Alan called Jen over to look, and told her I could see a baby warbler about to fledge. We stepped away, thinking I had scared the nestling.

Jen came over, intending to return the nestling to the nest if necessary. When we looked at the nest a moment later, we could see a garter snake with the nestling in its mouth. The snake was behind the nest, and looked exactly like a branch.

"Deb -- the snake has the nestling," Jen said. My heart sank. I realized why the nestling was out of the nest. What I thought was a "branch" was actually the snake. My field partners joined us and saw the snake with the bulge in its stomach. That was the nestling. Had I known that the "branch" was the snake, I feel like I could have saved it.

July 7 - Bird Banding

4:30 wake-up. One hour earlier than usual. Bird-banding day. Quick breakfast, pack lunches, wrestle into our wading boots, then a return to JACK to meet the bird banding team.

Throughout our visits to the nest sites, we have come across the well-worn banding paths, and been told to watch out for the ropes staked into the ground. Now we would see this in action.

Jenny McCabe, the Field Team Leader for the Bird Banding Project, met us at the site. We followed her to several banding nets -- a 20' long stretch of mist net staked throughout the research site designed to capture songbirds. The nets are so fine, we had to be warned not to walk into them ourselves. Mist nets are used to capture songbirds so that they can be banded and studied.


A bird band is a small ring of aluminum placed around a bird's right leg with a unique ID for the bird (like a social security number). Researchers also take data on the size and health of the bird. Once banded, the bird is then released.

The banding team places the nets once every ten days in the same locations, so that local songbirds can be tracked over time as to longevity, health, and behavior. Nets remain for 6 hours and are checked every 30 minutes.

The banding team works fast. Our first capture was a robin. Jenny demonstrated the banding grip (a way to hold the bird safely but securely) and placed it in a cotton bag to carry back to the bird-banding station. Our captured robin was surprisingly still in its cotton bag.

The next net yielded a yellow warbler. Here, Dominique demonstrates the banding process.
This bird was released immediately after being banded (without taking relevant data), as it was showing signs of stress.

We made the next round of net visits in smaller groups so as to release the birds more quickly. We captured a robin (who fluttered periodically in the bag on the walk back) and a song sparrow, the subject of Jenny's research.


Jenny took a variety of measurements on the song sparrow, including weight, wing span, beak length and thickness, tarsus length, length of primary feather and length of tail feather.





View of the song sparrow's brood patch -- the underside that a female uses to warm her eggs.

Whoa - move the van closer !

"Whoa, here he comes! Move the van closer!"

All leaning to the left-hand side of the van, we stretched to see the massive bull bison saunter across the road. With hardly a glance at the cluster of cars, minivans and camera-toting tourists, the bison glided across the road like a slow-motion locomotive, switching his tail and trailing a cloud of dust and flies. We took pictures, shared observations, shook our heads as the bison joined his herd, a group of about twenty cows, young bulls, and calves. Calves scampered in the dust, and their mothers protectively shooed away others who came too close. Just another day on the range.

What a way to end the recreation day!

Today was a day of "rest" from the work as data collectors. Without plans to search for nests, our day filled rapidly with plans for a hike at String Lake, a visit to the park visitor center in Moose, and perhaps most exciting - a trip to town! In short, a day as full as any day in the field.

And yet, it was a great opportunity to continue to get to know one another and connect as a team. We swapped stories on the trail, shared laughs at the picnic table, learned about the history of this beautiful place, and topped it all off with a cold adult beverage or a frosty ice cream.

With clean laundry for some, and t-shirts and guidebooks to commemorate our time in Jackson, we returned to the TSS campus for dinner and discussion about how to engage people and learners in environmental action. Surely tomorrow's teams will be more efficient, more connected, and better at finding nests!

Tomorrow, it's back to the field, and early. Breakfast at 5:30 for a meeting with the bird banding team at 7:00!

Feeling Great

After a few days of trying to figure out what I am doing here...today was the day it changed for me. A new sense of confidence arose as I woke up in the morning. The self conscious feeling of packing the "wrong" things, wearing too little/too much, having enough water and the general sense of where in world am I has finally worn off. As many of us know, there is no worse feeling than thinking you do not belong.
Today, we spent the entire day within Kelly Campus, the same site we are staying. As a group we were trekking through very tall brush, fighting sticks and mosquitoes on our hunt for bird nests. The challenge of following specific bird noises, tracking them with binoculars, and happily avoiding wild animals gives you an amazing sense of excitement.
As a group, we all must be looking forward to tomorrow, which will be a leisure day for all of us. We deserve the break from the exercise and the early mornings. I really look forward to a great rest of the trip.

"Idea" Nesting

As I walked down a path between two willow trees in water almost up to my knees, I saw the nest. I took the retractable mirror from my pocket and extended it up to the nest and confirmed there were no eggs. This was a nest just built by black headed grosbeak parents. My field research partner for the day, Rebecca, and I had spent the last hour tracking these two birds into a grove of willow trees along the bank of a fast moving creek. We conducted vegetation searches, scanned the trees with our binoculars, listened with our ears to see if we were getting close to the nest, and moved carefully through the brush careful not to step on nests close to the ground. We were due to leave this site in twenty minutes and we agreed to give this one section of willows one more look. After finding the nest, we marked it’s location on a bird nest card and with our hand held GPS receivers. We then turned around and began our long walk back to the van. The importance of this simple find was not lost on me. I came to Wyoming to learn field research and to learn how to identify different bird songs. More importantly, I came here to learn how to inspire my town and school community to become more effective stewards of the Earth. I'm not sure exactly how I am going to accomplish this goal. Like the grosbeak, I realized I too am making a nest here in Wyoming. The materials have been kindly given to me by Earthwatch and the Teton Science School and I have created a nest of "ideas" which are currently growing. I have a lot more in common with birds than I thought...

The First Discovery!

The day began at 5:00 AM and I was nervous. I knew that today the proverbial rubber was going to hit the road because all the skills we learned yesterday would have to be applied in the field. We were partnered up and we would be left in a designated spot to find nests on our own and formally record their location using the handheld GPS systems we had learned to operate yesterday. This was serious research! and it had to be detailed and there was a very detailed protocol we had to follow. It had to be correct! Sonal and I found ourselves in a peaceful pond area and we began looking. I was intrigued as much by the fragrant wild flowers surrounding us as by the birds that we were supposed to be looking for. Robins all over the place... I knew their cousins from New Jersey! but the others, not so easy! We looked and looked for nests but could not find any that were active. Discouraging. After about two hours we wandered over to the road that bordered the "block" to which we had been assigned, a little dejected because we hadn't found any nests to record.

Sonal and I noticed a colorful display of deep purple and red flowers that marked the entrance to a nearby property. As Sonal came around a nearby cottonwood tree she glanced up and noticed two tiny yellow triangles in an impossible tangle of grey branches. Success! We quickly took out our extending mirror (it looks like a dental instrument a dentist would use to examine an elephant) to look inside the nest that was about 6 feet off the ground. Sure enough, there they were...two little robins who had withdrawn their little beaks laying side by side perfectly still and I could hear them saying "Please don't see us. Please don't see us!" It was one of the most touching things I've ever seen, because you knew that they were so very vulnerable at this point in their very short lives. Mom or dad were signaling their alarm by "chipping" so we quickly recorded our GPS position and withdrew to calm everyone concerned.