Life in the 415

Life at Palo is good. Being here two weeks I’ve already learned a lot… and have much more to learn. Actually banding the birds that we catch in the mist nets is really only one small facet of what are a bander’s duties. Every half hour we walk our net trails to check for captured birds. If/ when we find one we have to carefully extract it from the net, wing by wing, and coax the especially grabby ones to let go with their feet. We place the captured birds in a small cloth bag, and walk back to our banding station for the day. (They’re actually calmer, and safer, in the bag than if we were to walk around with them exposed.) If they’re already banded we record who we’ve caught, and if not we give them a nice lightweight aluminum bracelet to wear with their own 9 digit code. After that we try to determine the bird’s age and sex, look at feather condition, amount of fat, and weight among other measurements. Some birds we color band. Then we release the bird. If it’s a small bird, just releasing it from the bander’s grip over your palm, close to the ground is fine. If it’s a raptor… throw it into the wind. (Keep those talons as far away from you as possible.) Most of the birds we catch are small, like this Yellow Rumped Warbler.



But sometimes we catch larger birds. Like this juvenile Red Shouldered Hawk.



I have not “processed” a raptor yet, but I have released a Sharp Shinned Hawk. (Who was smaller than even the juvenile Red Shouldered.)

I’ve been hoping for a Western Scrub Jay in the nets, but so far they have eluded us. There is no shortage of them around the Palomarin field station. Lately the only time you see one is with an acorn in its mouth. Perched high on the top of the nearest tree, surveying the area for other jays, and either yelling at/ to them, or flying, beak full, with the characteristic flap like mad, tuck your wings, flap like mad, Jay flight pattern. Nora, one of my banding intern buddies, has been hoping to catch a Black Phoebe. Especially since at least one appears wherever she goes. (And I mean everywhere.)

Another duty of the bander is mending mist nets. Yesterday Nora and I attempted to mend nets in the backyard while Colin, another winter bander, worked with Renee banding. Just figuring out the diagram of how to tie the correct knot was hard enough. Doing it was another story. A good chunk of the time we’d end up tying slip knots by accident. Re-do. Then it got windy. And it was impossible to work out where the little square of net that you were attempting to knot into had just disappeared to. At that point we broke for lunch, I rode my bike to Bolinas to drop off a movie at the library, and then we re-grouped for some proofing of data from the previous month. (Another duty)

Today we banded at one of our “off sites” and I extracted and processed my first few birds alone, which was exciting. I also had a Winter Wren stuck down my shirt for about 10 minutes. He/ she was getting a little shaky, so it was back in the bag, and zipped loosely in my jacket while I processed another bird. By the time I was done with the second bird the WIWR was kicking and biting again. Success!


Biking around Bolinas is very scenic. You alternate riding along cliffs overlooking the Pacific and through stands of eucalyptus trees. A sea breeze, or the smell of fresh bark mulch and vick’s vapo rub combined (which, call me strange, I find rather pleasant.) The only downside to the ride are the hills. This is near San Francisco after all. Going downhill is tons of fun. Going up again… not as much.

I have found a place to get some bouldering in only 10 miles from the field station. Right on the beach. I’ve never had to plan my climbing around tides before. There’s a nice little traverse that I’ve found, and a V1 that could be a project. It feels a little strange pulling on the rocks on the beach. The texture of the dried salt on them is a whole new element. They almost feel slippery.

Here's Nora on the traverse, hanging out.



and some of the other boulders in the area.



I also went surfing for the very first time on Thanksgiving day with some scientists from the station. I was lent a board and a wetsuit, given about a 5 minute primer on how to stand up, read a wave, and proper surf etiquette, then ran after my teacher, Nat, into the waves and paddled out here… (the little black specks are surfers)



Having seen it firsthand now, I can imagine surfing being a scary thing if you haven’t had a lot of swimming experience. There was only once when I panicked a little bit after riding face first off my board into the water. I got tossed around a little, smacked on the head by the board, and couldn’t pop up until another wave had passed, but once I relaxed it was fine. I didn’t stand up in the 2 hours I was out there, but by the end I was getting the idea of what waves were good, and how to get into a good position to paddle into them. I caught a few waves, and rode them on my stomach. One of them I rode long enough for Nat, riding next to me, to yell at me “Stand up! Stand up! All the way!” At which point I jumped, but hesitated at the last moment, and only made it to my knees before I pitched over sideways with a yelp. I was immediately swallowed up by the wave. I popped up grinning a little while later, and paddled back out for another try.