Bird Banding Workshop

I just returned from a week long intensive bird banding workshop.  I stayed all week at one of the most comfortable field stations - definitely the only pink one - that I have ever been to.  The location was in Virginia at Environmental Studies on the Piedmont, .envstudies.org, and the workshop was put on by The Institute For Bird Populations, birdpop.org.  I know more about molt limits, skull pneumaticization, and formative plumage than I ever realized possible - and I still have a ton to learn.  It was truly amazing to have a variety of species alive and up close to study.  It made me appreciate and revere birds  all the more.
On the last evening the head Bee Keeper took us into an Apiary and talked to us about their hives, another great experience!  The last photo is what the last morning of banding looked like from our banding station.  If you are ever in the area of Warrenton, Virginia, I highly recommend visiting.

Migration

charcoal on paper, 16 x 20

Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea:

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.                           Emily Dickinson