Good luck with the banding tomorrow, TPC! It must be an awesome thing to have those little darlings in your hands, even though you risk losing a bit of flesh by so doing! 
Its more awesome before and after the fact, even after all these years, funnily enough. When we're banding, Bob and I are so focussed (it may not seem like it in the videos) on banding them as quickly as possible, checking out their condition by touch and sight and sound, and being careful not to hurt them. They are tough little birds and great little fighters for the most part, but still, they are small in your hands and so its hard not to remember how easily they get hurt when they take their first flights. And while it seems like a long time between banding and fledging, it really isn't, about three weeks! Before its exciting to see how they are doing and after its cool to see them all in the pails and ready to go back to their box. But in the middle, its all about the birds. And that is the way it should be I think.
