My new favorite bird in all the world is the American Oystercatcher (or AMOY, for short). They're funny shorebirds with bright orange beaks, and we collected nesting data on them while I was at Cape Hatteras. We worked with Conor McGowan, from NC State, to band some of them.

Conor puts a band on a bird's ankle
Here he measures the bird's tarsus, or leg bone
Hooray for AMOYs!
Oystercatchers rock my face off.
EVery bird has a unique color combination of bands
The bird's culmen (beak) is measured
Can't forget to measure the wing
Another shot of an AMOY
Wish I could keep him.
Fly away!