A Cuckoo in the Hand...

By Jove, after three arduous attempts filled with marauding mosquitoes, snagged strings, tangled twine, tantalizing taunts, close calls and disheartening disappointment, we have done it: WE HAVE CAUGHT, BANDED AND RADIO-BRANDED A COCCYZUS AMERICANUS! Behold our sheer ornithological prowess evidenced in this picture:

Bwah-ha-ha! There's nothing like manhandling a threatened species. In all seriousness, we tried to be as efficient as we could to keep him from being stressed. We were especially worried by his lack of fat deposits…he's so skinny, it looks like he just migrated in. In any case, we color banded, weighed, measured, glued a radio tag to his back, colored his breast pink with a highlighter, and then released him back into the wild!

Well, that's all for now. I'll get back to the Burrowing Owls later....