Sunday, December 28, 2008

Report Banded Birds

Sometimes when we're out in the field or even around the city, we come across a colour-banded bird or find a dead bird that is banded. Reporting banded birds is extremely important to help researchers better understand bird populations. There are two places to report banded birds:

Canada: Canadian Wildlife Service Bird Banding Office
USA: http://www.reportband.gov (As I post this, the site is down!)

These links will be on the links page of my website for future reference should you come across banded birds.

This photograph is of a flock of Sanderlings. Three of the individuals in this flock were colour banded. These were reported and I received a certificate of appreciation for doing so!

Flock of Sanderlings in Churchill, MB.
Three of the birds in this flock were banded.


Certificate of Appreciation I received for
reporting the banded Sanderling


My brother was also in California and saw this California Condor. You can see that the condor has wing tags. This is another way that birds are tagged and these should also be reported.

California Condor with wing tags near Big Sur, California.
This photo was taken by Mark Dilabio in February 2006.


I've also posted a link on my website to an article titled "A Colour-marked Shorebird at Ottawa Beach" that was written by Barbara Campbell and me.

Good birding,
Bruce

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