Courtesy of the BCR Bird Banders
One
of the long-term activities of the Beaver Creek Reserve Citizen Science Center
is bird banding. Bird banding is the practice of capturing wild birds, placing
a uniquely numbered identification band on their leg, and releasing them. The
banding of birds in the United States is controlled under the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act and requires a U.S. Federal Bird Banding and Marking Permit.
Bird banding
data are useful for research, management, and conservation projects. It makes
it possible to identify individual birds and allows for studies of bird
movements as well as providing information on survival rate, population sizes,
reproductive success, and other scientific analysis.
Most
of the birds we band are small songbirds captured as they come in to feed at
feeding stations at the Reserve or nearby private properties. It is not unusual
for us to recapture many of these birds, some multiple times. But we rarely get
reports that one of “our birds” was found by someone else away from the place
it was originally banded. Encounter rates for waterfowl and gamebirds banded by
government authorities to manage hunting can be considerably higher, but it has
been estimated that fewer than 1 in 10000 banded songbirds are ever reported to
the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) after being encountered by someone other
than the original bander. This number seems to be increasing slightly since the
coming of the internet, but it is still exciting when a bander receives a
notice from the BBL that a bird they banded has been found.
Over
the years, the BCR banders have gotten such reports for several songbirds we
have banded, such as Pine Siskins that were probably killed when they flew into
windows, one in California and one in Alberta, Canada; a Mourning Dove shot by
a hunter in Luling, Texas; a Purple Finch in Entwistle, Alberta, Canada; two
American Goldfinches from Texas; and more from much closer in Wisconsin and
other nearby states.
It is always
with some degree of excitement that we open the attachment in an email with the
subject “Report to bander” from the BBL. Whether it informs us of a Purple
Finch recaptured by another bander in Entwistle or a Common Grackle that was
killed when it flew into a backyard neighbor’s window in Eau Claire, we are
always happy to get feedback on where “our” birds have gone.
This week we received such a “Report to bander”
informing us that a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak we banded at the Reserve on May
10, 2012 was found dead on May 4, 2017 in Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
This bird was likely on its return migration from somewhere in Central or South
America to Wisconsin or farther north when it perished.
Remote encounters with neotropical species,
birds like Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that breed in our area in the summer but
return to the tropics for the rest of the year, are almost never reported.
Prior to last year we had never gotten a report of any neotropical migrant
being encountered more than a few miles from where it was banded. In the
tropics, where people are less aware of things like bird banding, someone who
might incidentally encounter a bird with a band usually has no idea of what to
do with it or has no easy way to report it.
Over the years, in addition to the unique
9-digit identification number, bands have been stamped with various short
directions on how to report the information to the BBL. Larger bands contain more
information than the smaller bands used on songbirds, but in an age before
Google and texting these shorthand directions were often cryptic and unlikely
to be followed. Stories are told that one such inscription, “Rept Wash Biol
Serv” when bird banding was under a government department known as the
Washington Biological Service, was discontinued quickly when it was discovered
that it was being interpreted as “Repeat Wash, Boil, and Serve” even by people
in the United States. Today, bands are more likely to simply give a 1-800 phone
number or an internet address for reporting the band number to the BBL.
What about that report from last year? While the
report of a banded Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Louisiana was indeed exciting, it
reminded us of the one from last year. You can imagine our surprise and
pleasure when the notice we received last year was for one of those neotropical
migrants and our longest distance encounter ever reported. Another Male
Rose-breasted Grosbeak that had been banded by our off-site banders outside of
Eleva in June, 2012, had been shot by hunting children on a farm near
Somotillo, Nicaragua on December 26, 2015.
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| Green arrows on map indicate where other birds banded at Beaver Creek Reserve have also been reported. |
If you find a dead bird,
check to see if it is wearing a band. If you see a bird with a band coming to
your feeder and you have a digital camera try to take pictures of the band. You
may not be able to photograph the entire number but could get enough digits to
allow tracing the band. Then report the band number (or portion of the number)
on the internet at <www.reportband.gov> or by calling 1-800-327-BAND.
