“Let’s go out and do the rounds,” she says. All the birds are banded so they can be identified, and Burns notes which birds are where. The first egg of the season has been laid, and it is time to weigh and measure it. As we get close to the bird it starts snapping its bill—an appendage of some substance at this proximity. Still, there is not a lot of venom in the attack, and one senses that it is more of a warning.