Sierra Vista, AZ: Hummingbird Banding

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

In my elementary and middle school eras, the same girl sat behind me in homeroom. Karen had long brown hair, with every thick strand always in perfect place. Many mornings, Karen would lean over her school desk toward the back of my head to tell me a joke. It was usually off-color. Several of Karen's jokes are imprinted into my brain. 

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

One of them was a question-and-answer joke:

Karen: Have you ever smelled mothballs? 
Me: Yes.
Karen: How'd you get their tiny little legs apart?

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

Early this month, as I stood in line one evening at my local Fry's grocery store, the woman in front of me exclaimed to the cashier that she'd just returned from hummingbird banding, and how exhilarating it was.

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

I had two immediate reactions: 

• I must go there!
• How'd they get their tiny little legs apart? 

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

I did go.

You may wonder why I've planted so many flowering cholla photos in an article on hummingbird banding.

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

The empty hummingbird feeder below - rigged up with a remote-control trap - tells the story. The bulk of the north-flying migrant hummingbirds have already passed through, leaving mostly the resident flutterbirds, who maybe weren't in the mood for tricky human shenanigans on the day of my visit.

Hummingbird trap, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

However, one lady hummingbird took a hit for the home team, and I've got some of the weighing, banding, and release rituals captured in the video below:

Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory (SABO) volunteers do the trapping, recording, banding, and releasing at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, which is outside Sierra Vista.

One of the volunteers suggested I return the last week of August or the first week of September to enjoy the height of the southbound migration. I will do so, for sure.

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.

When I lived in Alamogordo, I was a lucky chick to participate in duck banding at the annual Bosque del Apache National Refuge's Festival of Cranes. I got to hold a newly-banded duck and release it into the air. Gosh, that was fun. A video of a group release below:

In case you can never get enough of flowering chollas, you can find the video of same swaying in the breeze here.

Cholla in bloom, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Arizona. May 2019.