2nd day mist netting

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Because our group's nets were relatively unproductive the day before, today we moved our nets to a much higher location on an exposed ridge, with a very sharp drop to one side. Larry joked that we would be catching vultures and Andean Condors in them. We did get a lot more birds today.

In the afternoon I did vegetation sampling with Mauricio and Giovanny. Mauricio is the older and has known Dusti longer, he is definitely the dominant of the two. Giovanny was enthusiastically throwing himself into the tasks, clambering down steep inclines and climbing trees to measure their size.

Vegetation sampling consists of marking off a giant rectangle 5 meters on either side of the trail, and 12 meters long. We had to estimate the height of all the trees within the rectangle, and measure their diameter, also estimate amount of "cover" from overhanging branches. We were extremely high up on a couple of ridges, with steep falls on either side in a couple of places.

Birds seen today:


Roadside Hawk (I was beginning to learn this was the local equivalent to the ubiquitous roadside Red-tailed Hawk in New England)
Turkey Vulture
Swallow-tailed Kite
Masked Tityra
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Choco Toucan
Golden-headed Quetzal
Smoke-colored Pewee
Palm Tanager
Green-crowned Brilliant
Golden Tanager
Sparkling-Violetear
Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Blue-fronted Parrotlet

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Photos

Dusti with Andean Cock-of-the-rock
This bird was caught in one of our nets in the pasture, most of them we saw in a completely different place (the lek). This one was perplexing, its feathers and eye color did not quite match what the book said it should be!

How did you keep the birds from flying away?
A surprising number of people have asked me how we kept the birds from flying away in the pictures like this. Were the birds specially trained? Drugged? The answer is simple, people:
We held onto their legs.
This is a Slate-throated Whitestart (being held by its legs).

Mauricio holding a nightjar (Pauraque?)
Notice he is holding the bird's legs.