Saving a Cygnet in Distress.

It all started out innocently enough, the banders came over for dinner after a lovely afternoon on the Captain John Boat seeing many whales and birds. After dinner they went down to the dock for a bit of fishing, the light was so pretty, one of our perfect days.

Jess fishing.

Ian and Evan going over bait options.

Our cat Milo joining in.

The swan family makes an appearance on the right.

Evan notices that one of the cygnets has fishing line wrapped all over him, he's having trouble with his leg and neck.

Banders to the rescue. If there's a situation where bird banders can come in handy this is one of them!

The tactic is to lure the injured bid in while avoiding being attacked by the daddy swan. Bread, and lots of it, to the daddy should work.

Ian sees his chance and grabs for the cygnet! Jess is still trying to distract what can be a very aggressive male swan.

Ian says if you grab a swan by the neck, while supporting the rest of the body, they don't struggle as much. Who knew? Evan dashes to the other dock.

Evaluating the damage, but the daddy swan started attacking so they moved up to higher ground. There's a fence at the water's edge to keep the geese out and thankfully the daddy swan didn't come up on land.

Here it was easier to see what was going on with the fishing line.

Turns out the cygnet had swallowed some abandoned fishing line and a possible lure, maybe hook. It was down it's throat, so Ian, Jess and Evan cut off all the line they could from around it's body. The part that went down it's throat had to be left. Trevor later said that swans have very hardy digestive systems and it may be able to dissolve the foreign object.

Great skill is needed and these were the right people for the job!

Picture time with cute baby swan, sorry, cygnet.

A sweet little guy.

Milo wanted to play, too...

Such a long neck!

An armful.

Time to go back to his family.

Everyone's happy, the cygnet can swim again and we saw him 5 days later doing well.

The Bird Banding Bunch

Ian and I are living in Manomet, Plymouth a lovely town one hour south of Boston on the Atlantic Ocean. Ian has been banding birds for Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences ('Manomet' for short) since April 15th with Evan and Jess. The 3 of them have become fast friends and hang out together at work, live together, eat together and play together.  I'm very happy Ian's able to be part of such a great bunch of banders!  They get along so well, work hard and go birding, to the movies and out for meals on their off hours: rainy days and weekends.

Spring banding ends June 15th, but happily they have all 3 decided to come back for Fall banding on August 15th.

Jess, Ian and Evan at New Tokyo. Anytime it rains or the nets are closed on a Monday or Tuesday we come here for dinner. Excellent sweet potato rolls! This is the one activity I'm included in when they go out :-)

Jess enjoying her sushi.

Trevor, the boss of banding.

The Trustees luncheon honoring the founders of Manomet 40 years ago was held on a sunny day in June. Evan worked the meetings, I was the volunteer photographer and over 100 people arrived to celebrate and discuss conservation issues.

Tony bringing in the 40th birthday cake.

Cake!

Evan.

Jess.

Jess and Ian in synchronized walking heading back to the banding room.

The second bander ever with Trevor.

Red-eyed Vireo.

Ted, one of the first people we said it was OK to go with on an overnight birding excursion when Ian was much younger and a foot shorter. 

Charles, the first bander and Betty Anderson, the founder of Manomet back in 1969 while raising a family. Great story, amazing woman! She took Ian birding when he first started out 6 years ago.

Luis from Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina.

One of Ian's admirers.

Luis was a visiting guest of Manomet, he bands birds in Tierra Del Fuego and had never been to the States before. He was very charming and did well with limited English.

Walking to Holmes Farm which Manomet owns next door.

Meridith invited me to an impromtu dinner, after the big day of luncheon and photographing, at the Holmes Farm. She was entertaining Luis and wanted another Spanish speaker around and I was very happy to oblige. The banders also were invited along with Bob, a scientist from Maine. 

Luis enjoyed himself thoroughly and was so interested in everything, lots of fun. 

Dashing outside to see the Night Hawks.

We see Night Hawks.

Arriba.

We ate take out Thai food, a first for Luis, and had a good time translating a fortune cookie. Kind words will give you a warm heart??

Evan, Luis and Meridith.

Luis wanted us all to pose for his camera. Bob from Maine on the right. 

A very fun evening!

Luis just sent me this photo along with a lovely email thanking all of us the warm reception and attention he received from us. I love the last line: a hug from afar. 

Hola a mis nuevos AMIGOS .

Espero que todos ustedes se encuentren muy bien.

Arribe a mi pais el jueves 11 de junio muy casado despues de 17 horas de vuelo entre un avion y otro, pero lo más lindo fue el reencuentro con mi familia que en realidad extrañaba bastante ya que fue la primera vez que me alejaba por tanto tiempo.

Quiero agradecer, a cada uno de ustedes por el recibimiento y atención que me han brindado durante mi estadia por allá, lo cual espero brindar cuando se lleguen por Tierra del Fuego.

 

Un abrazo en la distancia.

 

Luis G. Benegas

Awesome Bunch of Banders.

Evan and Jess after dinner at our house on another night.  I try and have them over when it's raining and it's not Monday or Tuesday...

I'm testing out long exposures here, 5 seconds, and like the effect.