Bird Ringing (or Banding) at Mida Creek

A Rocha staff and volunteers setting up nets at dusk.
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                            Bird Ringing (or Banding) at Mida Creek

Holding a little bird in the palm of my hand, alighted my senses.

I thanked God that He made creatures so small and so perfect.

The tiny fluttering heart inside this small creature I held

Steff holding one of the birds to be released after the ringing operation.
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made me wonder how such a tiny thing can be so alive and so whole.

As the bird rested his head on my thumb,

I thanked God that He made creatures so small and so perfect.

Steff

Karsten about the release a bird on the beach.
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On Nov. 28, I helped A Rocha with a bird ringing project. My dad and Colin, the manager, and some others helped put up nets in the middle of Mida Creek - a mangrove, to catch birds. This was done in a bay of the ocean. When it is high tide at 10:20 pm, all the birds like to eat on dry ground, so they fly in low, and then get tangled up in the nets placed in the middle of the sand flats. Some of us then go around and wade in knee high water, and collect the birds in separate cotton bags. The birds feel better when they are in the dark. Then we go back to the base where we put them in a pen where they can hop around while they wait to be tagged. I helped by collecting birds from the catching nets, and bringing the birds to be tagged from the pens, and later releasing them back into the air after they have been ringed. Birds are ringed because people want to know where the birds will migrate to, and if the bird is ringed already, to see where they have migrated from. Some of the birds we caught were as big as a crow, but with longer legs, and some were as small as a baby robin. Holding and cuddling the little birds was really cool. They had such soft and fluffy feathers and you could feel their heartbeat thumping. I really loved doing this and next week, we are doing it again and I am definitely going along.