Definitely worth staying up late for this. Normally we are heading pretty directly towards our bunks when the clock strikes 9PM, but yesterday we got back into our cold-weather gear and piled into the truck to head down to Monument Lek. As we approached we stopped every so often, intently scanned the sage with our spotlights, looking for males roosting near the lek. After passing through the lek proper, we headed up the two-track that emerges from the north edge of the lek. Around a bend, Erin spotted a bird maybe 75 feet from the road, in some short sage. Gail drove towards the bird, and I grabbed a long-handled net and walked beside the truck. When we got pretty close, I darted towards the bird and covered him with the net. Success!

We extracted the male from the nylon mesh of the net, and dropped him in a pillowcase while we got all the processing tools out. This guy, now #326, was weighed, and measured on his tarsus (leg), wing, culmen (bill), and tail. We also plucked one feather and got a small blood sample.



We also put on leg bands- we’re trying 3 spiral bands here on the right leg, but may go with two. (see above).

Since this guy was almost right on the lek, we decided not to put a radio on him- we already know where he was roosting, and one of our main goals with the radiotelemetry is to identify roost sites so we can be more efficient in locating new birds to catch at night.

Great start to the banding season- we’ve had many nights when we’ve spent hours and not seen a bird, so to have one on the first night feels like a good omen. The crew really enjoyed finally getting to see a bird in hand. There is nothing like getting to touch the bristly sound-producing feathers and the soft pliable skin over the vocal sacs. What cool, bizarre birds!