Paid vacation, sort of...

Kelly had visiting banders from the east, Bruce Peterjohn (chief of the Bird Banding Laboratory at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD), and Fred Bassett of Hummingbird Research, Inc. So I went along with them doing Kelly's normal banding circuit, but instead of trapping and helping set up, record, etc., I just played. Works for me, sort of... 

When we got to Lajitas I went off looking for odonates and missed the chance to photograph a hybrid Black-chinned they trapped. 

It wasn't easy to get the three master banders to sort of pose for me.

Left to right: Fred , Bruce, and Kelly

A priceless moment to observe was when a little girl watched Bruce banding a hummingbird as if she was skeptical that he wasn't hurting the bird.

Afterwards, Kelly put the bird in her hand. A picture is worth a thousand words.

The last two photos courtesy of  Laura Gold.