Mist netting for birds

 Myself and Intern Tom (herpetologist in the making) set out this morning at 4am to open up two mist nets we had set up yesterday evening in some sandy scrubland next to the cerrado.
We chose a spot that was between two patches of bush with a few trees, hoping to catch those that decided to flit between the bushes. The sun began to rise at around 05:20, with a cup of tea in hand we sat and waited out of sight for the 15 minute interval between checking the nets.

The nets had been previously used for catching bats, since bats struggle when caught and chew the nets frantically- the nets were full of holes and we were told not to be disappointed if we caught nothing.

To our surprise, on checking the nets we found 5 birds had been caught in 1 net at the same time. We quickly got to removing them carefully. The birds must be removed feet first, once the feet are free these can be held onto and the rest of the bird untangled safely. The net is incredibly fine and is sometimes hidden underneath the feathers so removing the birds safely can be pretty tricky.We caught 3 spot-backed puffbirds (Nystalus maculatus) and 2 narrow-billed wood creepers (Lepidocolaptes angustirostris).

When caught in the net most birds relax and wait calmly to be untangled.  The puff birds were very patient and easy to remove; one looked as though it had fallen asleep.The wood creepers however were less cooperative which made taking measurements much harder.
After the first 5, we returned to our cold cups of tea and waited for more birds but by 8:30am no more were caught and the morning window of bird activity was over and so we headed back to base and put the kettle on.