Early May Bird Banding

It was a foggy morning at Zuma Canyon. Start time was 5:57 a.m. and I had brought company with me. Mark decided to check it out, just this once, to see what I do with myself every other Saturday. There were only four of us (not counting Mark), but we ran all nets except for #7, which involves an out-of-the-way walk up a steep hill.

The Pacific-slope Flycatchers were out in full force singing, and we got several in the nets.Look at their lovely almond-shaped eye ring (and please ignore my grip on the bird; it's all wrong).
Mark managed to get a photo of one of the gophers; we see evidence of them all over -their holes - but rarely see them.
We got another Black-chinned Hummingbird and this time I actually got a photo of it. It's gorgeous.

We also got two Warbling Vireos. Another first for me at that station. They are so quietly elegant.

Cool bush. I think it's called Sugar Bush.
And, last but not least, the House Finch. He's a very common bird around our house (he sneaks food from the hummer feeder) and we see him in the canyon all the time. This is the first time I have banded one, though, and I was impressed by his red feathers and his culmen. My neighbor calls them flying lizards.