At the sweet hour of 5:30am, my dad and I awoke to the calls of my alarm. The desert outside was just waking up, with the curves of the piled rocks highlighted under the light of the full moon. Birds began singing as a soft breeze moved the leaves of juniper and oak. We got dressed and headed to the kitchen for a breakfast of banana bread and muffins.
By 6am, everyone was up and ready to start unfurling the nets, starting back up where we had left off last evening. The sun was just peaking over the mountains, illuminating the desert with the colors of pink and yellow. Today was going to be a good day.
By the first net round, we were already bringing back birds. We processed warblers and sparrows with fingers that were just warming up. I grabbed a bag containing a Black-throated Gray Warbler and promptly put a band on the bird. The little ball of feathers was still warming up too, not wanting to leave the comfort of my hand when I was ready to release her. I took her over to the sun where she could warm up, but she insisted on staying. Whispering to her, I told her she could leave and continue her morning. Eventually, she jumped from my hand and flew off into a nearby juniper, leaving me to process more birds and continue my day too.
While we still caught a fair number of White-crowned Sparrows that morning, we were beginning to see a lot more diversity. Now, we were getting eight species of warbler, both a Pacific-slope Flycatcher and an Ash-throated Flycatcher, House Finches, and more. By the end of the morning, White-crowned Sparrows only accounted for about 64% of the total rather than 81% the previous day (about same number of net hours). Everyone was thrilled about this as it meant we’d get to handle other species as well!
As the sun continued bathing the landscape, more birds were awakening and going about their days. The temperature was nice and many birds went to get a drink at the water features. Each net round, more and more birds were coming back in bags for us to process. More birds, more birds, until there was a huge overflow! We were quickly running out of bird bags, we were having to remove larger numbers of birds from nets than previous. I had conveniently gotten lost checking nets. My stress levels were so high, the desert started looking the same. I couldn’t remember which nets were which, which trail I had to walk on to reach the banding station. Luckily, one of the banders found me and I was able to follow her back. I quickly learned my brief absence wasn’t helping the situation.
We had such a backlog of bird waiting to be processed that we had to close down net 11, one of the most productive nets. We started taking minimal data (just age and sex) on White-crowned Sparrows since we had already processed so many. Even the master bander who normally records the data had to jump in to help process. This made for the most stressful moment yet. These birds needed to get back to their lives and we had to band and process them before we could release them.
Bag after bag, bird after bird, we processed faster than ever. I would grab a bag, reach in for the bird and grab the corresponding band. Most of the time, I had chosen a White-crowned Sparrow. Putting the band on the leg of the bird, I then looked at the tail and crown color. Okay, second year bird, sex unknown. “Okay, next bird” is what I thought as I released the one I had just banded through the panel-less frames around the station. Another bag, another bird, another band, reporting the data for two or three birds at a time for efficiency.
The bags became fewer and fewer as the banders went through them rapid fire. We had finally caught up with the birds and the last one was released. This was a relief, until it became evident that the numbers had really dropped off. As we relaxed, we started hearing fewer birds singing, saw fewer birds flying about. What happened? The wind had picked up and that didn’t make for a great situation. Wind blows the nets and makes them easier for the birds to see. While it certainly isn’t impossible to catch birds at this time, numbers can significantly dwindle as birds seek shelter and fly less.
Numbers never returned to where they were in the morning for the rest of the day. Instead, we talked banding banter and processed birds more meticulously. When checking nets, it was no longer a question of how many birds were in there, but if there were any birds at all. From around 10am to 2pm, very few birds were processed.
The first set of good news for the time came at lunch. One of the banders had spotted a species listed on both the California and Federal Endangered Species Lists. It was very cool to watch the individual for a brief period of time! For the safety of the individual and the rest of the population that might reside at Burns, I will not reveal the species and do not encourage anyone to go looking for it.
After the encounter, birds continued to slowly trickle in for us to band. These included a Northern Mockingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and Bewick’s Wren, three species I was very thrilled by!
Other species we banded and processed included the following:
In addition to bird life, Burns is also home to a lot of lizards! These included the Western Whiptail, Western Side-blotched Lizard, Desert Spiny Lizard, and the Western Fence Lizard. All were very cool to see but also rather difficult to photograph as they could quickly disappear into the shrubbery. Between a net round, my dad and I went on a short detour and found the most beautiful Desert Spiny Lizard I had ever seen! The lizard’s scales were iridescent yellow and blue, with a bold black throat and and an impressive build. The lizard sat on a rock while my dad and I got some photos.
By the end of the day, we were very low on bird bags. We did a load of laundry at the house, which would end up leaving us with a bit of a water issue. When we went to wash the dishes, no water would flow. You flush the toilet once, that’s it, it won’t refill! I took this as a great opportunity to go back into the desert and practice using nature as my toilet! I explored moths and beetles on the way back to the house. By morning luckily, the water issue had fixed itself.
In short, Day 2 of Burns started off great, with 91 birds caught in the morning and 24 caught in the afternoon and evening hours. Just 12 birds short, the whole group was certain we could make it to the 200 mark for total birds.