ATTENTION TO DETAILS - Neil - Apr 23, 2012

ATTENTION TO DETAILS


I have been a federal bird bander for nearly 48 years and one of the requirements for obtaining a banding permit is attention to detail. Recently I was working with a fellow bander on a hummingbird banding project in southeastern Arizona. I have worked with hummingbirds for several years and each time I work with these birds I am reminded about the necessary attention to detail that is required. Each time a bird is captured there are a series of measurements that are taken ? length of the wing [wing chord], exposed culmen [length of bill], width and length of rectrices [tail feathers] ? and that is just a partial list. Each of these various measurements and observations serves like a flow chart to allow the bander to determine the age and sex of the various

Such great advice and wisdom. I had the opportunity to fish with a gentleman in the late 80's on a river in AR. A slow moving section of water that tailed out into quick runs and riffles. He provided a lifetime of instruction in little more than 2 hours on micro currents and drag. It was simply amazing to watch him count down to the strike. He knew if the drag was accounted for properly and the depth of the fly was correct there was going to be a strike every single time. While color and size of the fly were important, it was not as important as getting the drift right. It has changed the way I fish eternally.