Birds

Songbird Banding

During the Punic Wars, Roman officers tied threads on the legs of birds to carry messages. By the Middle Ages, European falconers marked birds with bands to show ownership and in the 1800’s in North America, John James Audubon conducted banding experiments with phoebes. By the 1900’s, bird banding began to resemble the system in place today, with modern studies serving different purposes and providing a useful tool in the study of wild birds.

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During the 2018 Songbird Banding, ten volunteers met under the direction of Rick Schmid at the Preserve’s White Pines site. Each of the seven sessions began at dawn and lasted six hours. The team banded 103 birds from 60 different species and recaptured 26. The Turkey Creek Preserve Bird Banding Program averages 300 volunteer hours per season.

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Rick Schmid explained the bird handling process at Turkey Creek Preserve, “From a 20-acre plot on the White Pines site, volunteers set up 10 mist nets, selecting locations that blend the mesh into the surroundings. Each net measures 12 meters long by 3 meters high. After the bird banding session is completed, all nets are taken down.

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We monitor the mist nets at all times, alert for birds that fly into the nearly invisible mesh. Here, a female rose-breasted grosbeak is carefully separated from the fine netting. Once removed from the mist net, each bird travels to the banding station in an individual breathable bag.” 

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Following prescribed procedures, each captured songbird undergoes a careful inspection by a trained specialist.

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The information collected includes species, gender, age, weight, wing length, molt status, and breeding conditions.

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Turkey Creek Preserve submits the data to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Maryland, run by the US Geological Survey, Dept of Interior. The data also goes to the Institute for Bird Population, a California nonprofit organization that operates the Monitoring Avian Production and Survivorship (MAPS) program.

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Rick Schmid described the banding process. “After data is recorded, each bird gets a uniquely numbered band for identification. Using special pliers, the professional attaches a tiny aluminum band displaying an etched nine-digit number to the bird’s foot.

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The part that looks like a leg to us is really the bird’s foot. A bird’s leg is farther up in its body and mostly covered by feathers. The part that looks to us like a knee that is bending the wrong way, is really the bird’s ankle.”

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When Amy West opens her hand, the newly banded bird flies off into the sunny summer day. If the bird is recaptured, the 9-digit number provides identification of where and when it was banded. This increases the knowledge about a species longevity and migration patterns.