Migratory Bird Day at Willowbrook

Just nine days after the St. James Farm visit, I attended another wonderful bird walk, this one back at Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. Ron Skleney, the Willowbrook naturalist who got me started with birds and who was our St. James guide, welcomed the walkers and turned us over to two other staff members for the day.

International Migratory Bird Day was very interesting and educational. And as you can see in the photo, we did not learn about the 'two in the bush,' but we certainly experienced the proverbial 'bird in the hand.' A feature of the day was watching as several migratory birds were netted, banded, checked for identification and for details, and set free. Fascinating and very appealing to the eye of the watcher and of course the eye of the camera.

The photo shows the approved method of holding a wild bird. It allows a firm grip that will not harm the bird. Using the index and middle fingers of the hand for the neck slot works because due to the size of the knuckles, the fingers do not squeeze all that tightly at their base. As we will note in upcoming posts, it is easy to turn over the hand to have view and access to the body of the bird.

Some of those pictures will be in the next post.