Catching and banding hummingbirds

[MystrE]

On this cloudy and dreary day, my wife and I went to a nearby Hummingbird Celebration held that's held annually. I've never seen so many hummingbirds literally swarming all around us! There were hummingbird experts at 2 different locations who were catching, banding, and releasing back into the wild these beautiful birds. Allow me to share a few photos from this unique for us experience.
Starting the banding process...

 

[MystrE]

They were weighed, had their skin observed, sexed, examined for overall health, had the beak measured, banded and marked with something that's water soluble before being released back into the wild.

 

[MystrE]

At the second location we visited, an assistant would give the bird a nice long drink before letting someone hold the bird in their hand to release. This particular hummer was placed into my wife's hand and sat there for almost a minute before flying off. She told me she could feel the bird's heartbeat in the palm of her hand.

 

[MystrE]

At this location, there was a 25 foot clothesline stretched out between poles with a feeder placed every 5 feet along the line. Every feeder had swarms of hummingbirds; very awesome to watch. We weren't allowed to get too close so I had to go all the way out with my Nikon 55-300 zoom, and since it was so cloudy and dreary outside, use a very high ISO to get this shot of one of the feeders.

 

[MystrE]

Shall we gather at the feeder...

 

[baturn]

Wow! What an experience. great pics too.

 

[BillM]

That must be amazing to see in person, thanks for sharing

 

[annamaria]

What I'd give to have a hummer in my hand! Must have been quite an experience. Nice pics.

 

[Vince.1551]

Amazing birds and people


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[Hunter58]

Must have been an enjoyable experience. Great shots and interesting.

 

[MystrE]

As far as I could tell, it was all Ruby Throated Hummingbirds we saw yesterday. Ruby throated hummingbirds seemed to attract other exotic ruby colored creatures at one of the locations...