When the hummers enter, a trap door falls. Banding the birds requires many hours of training and a federal permit, but the Sargents have trained dozens of others banders so the migratory patterns of the birds can be recorded. The tiny metal band he crimps on the bird's leg is clearly legible but incredibly light. It takes 5,500 of them to weigh one ounce. It's quite possible these birds will be encountered again.
Hummingbirds often return to the same feeding stations year after year as if on schedule.
Last summer the Sargents banded 800 hummingbirds in their backyard. Morgan, Ala., in April and October when the Sargents conduct a bird census. Long nets approximately six feet high are stretched among the scrappy pines and sand dunes just off the beach. The program also includes information about flowers that can be planted that will attract the birds.