#my grandma's shih-tzu is a black-capped chickadee

[proton-wobbler]

Black-capped Chickadee - (Poecile atricapillus)

Chadron State Park - Fall 2023

A little sneak-peek at some of the abuse I go through as a bird bander (heavy sarcasm there).

Chickadee are birds that clearly remember their dinosaur ancestors and channel them in every interaction, including the entire process of extraction from mist nets to being banded to even just being held. While the majority of birds I work with will try to bite once or twice, then focus on trying to get away, chickadee will often focus on biting and fussing until they think they're 100% free. Thankfully that bill is too small to truly hurt, but I don't tell them that. I want them to have their pride, after all.

All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL. Permission to share images was granted by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR).