CMO stuff

We were forecast for rain practically all week and haven't gotten any yet, but at least it's nice and cool. Kelly Bryan came for his scheduled hummingbird banding yesterday, but due to flooding in central Texas our electricity went out for over 8 hours and I couldn't post anything.

He got a new trap because lots of the hummers know the wire cage traps and won't go in. Therefore, we miss out on recapture data that is valuable. The new "bonnet" trap is open on all sides so catches them easier. It's a bit harder to set up and operate, but I really like it.

Above is a photo of our 3 trap types. The one on the left is a trainer trap to get them used to going fearlessly into a trap. We never actually trap with it. The blue covers will be removed when we finish our banding session. The trap in the center is the new bonnet trap, open on all sides, and the trap on the right is one we've used during the last 5 years of the project. It works well, but after being trapped repeatedly some of the hummers avoid it.