FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Gull Banding: The Morning After

[Whoopinwiller@xxxxxxx]

23 FEB 04
Blountville, TN
.
This morning I woke to aches and pains brought about by a fantastic field day 
of Ringed-bill Gull trapping yesterday. First stop, the medicine cabinet for 
some ointment in the cuts of my hand from pulling the string of the trap (note 
to self: were a glove Mr. Genius). While in the meds let's get a couple of 
ibuprofen in me to ease the shoulder pain caused by a diving lunge after our 
only escapee yesterday. Funny, twenty years ago six or eight of those would 
have 
gone unnoticed the next morning. Good thing the shrubbery broke my fall. 
Wallace said, "   : )  "
These were lessons well learned. I must not repeat them if I wish to continue 
my pursuit of birding. My son, Sam, on the other hand......
Kidding. There should be several good opportunities to capture more gulls 
before migration and we may just learn something more about them through our 
efforts. Much has already been gleaned from trapping on three different days: 
for 
instance to lure a gull from it's perch to investigate your bait is easily 
accomplished by throwing bait into the air. Having the gull land in the trap 
zone 
is approx. 96% less likely. Wallace and I have had only 13 of ~382 gulls in 
the "strike zone" of the trap. Three of these were captured and two banded. A 
good start.
'Til we bird again

Rack Cross
Blountville, TN


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