Winter 2002

Two Birds in the Hand

Notice that one of these downy woodpeckers has a little red patch. The other doesn’t. The male has the decoration. The female is safer, more camouflaged, and she gets to appreciate his red cap.

The downies are in Jim Nachel’s fingers for teaching purposes. Bird banding is part science, part education, part excitement. The other woodpecker, lying upside down, is enmeshed in a fine “mist net.” You can barely see the mesh. Bird banders string the nets in heavily traveled migration corridors, retrieve the snared birds, and carefully place one tiny numbered band on one leg of each bird. Often volunteers help – and are deeply inspired by the honor of holding these jewels of nature. Ornithologists use bands to study migration routes, longevity, and other questions.

“You also get to know the personalities of the species,” says Nachel. “Typical bullies of the bird feeder, like jays and grackles, behave like diffident cowards when caught. But chickadees and cardinals are little feathered tigers. And only the most experienced bander should tangle with a rose-breasted grosbeak.”

Wannetta Elliott found a freshly killed sandhill crane in a forest preserve near Orland Park. The beautiful bird had a bullet hole in its breast and a band on its leg. Following the suggestion printed on every band, Elliott sent the numbered piece of metal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She learned by return mail that the bird had been banded 20 years earlier. Very likely the bird was shot by an immature hunter – younger than his prey.

It’s a bit of an unnatural indignity for a bird to live its life wearing jewelry not of its own choosing. But two benefits are clear. One to science – and the other to the bird’s own species. People are the major threat to most forms of life on this planet. The more we learn, and the more we feel a kinship with our fellow species, the better for us all.

—Photos by Jim and Gail Nachel. Words by Stephen Packard. Jim now works with the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

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