Bird Banding #1

At Lincoln Land Community College, there is a program to do bird banding.  I often visit the station.

Here's a quick list of bird banding information for "dummies":

1. Who?  Volunteers licensed by the US Geological Survey do all the work, at least at LLCC.

2. What?  Banding is catching a bird, in the case of LLCC, out of a net or trap (non-harmful, of course) and carefully and painlessly putting a metal band around the leg of the bird as a tag.

3.  Why?  The band is used to track dispersal of what species in what areas, population, migration paths and times, behavior, life span, heath, etc.

4. When?  At LLCC, banding begins late August in the fall and late March for the spring. ending in mid November for the fall and mid May for the spring. and occurs every morning during these seasons from around 6:30 to 11:00.

5. Where?   LLCC BBS (bird banding station) is located behind Menard Hall, directly behind the batting cages near the baseball stadium and prairie restoration area.  Nets are located around this area.

6.  How? Mist nets are set up on poles.  These nets are hard to see and birds, especially newcomers to the area, fly into them.  Everything from hummingbirds to hawks can be caught. Nets are checked at scheduled times throughout the morning, roughly once every half-hour to 45 minutes and the birds are brought in to the banding station in soft cloth bags.  They are measured, banded, and released as soon as possible.

By helping to check the nets here, I get to see all kinds of birds I've never seen before.  Rarities are sometimes caught, such as this Southwestern species, the Ash-throated Flycatcher, pictured below.  Note that the bird was released before it became very stressed.  The point is to monitor, not harm. Some environmentalists are very vocal in protesting bird banding as detrimental to the bird's stress levels and health.   However, it's done in a low-impact way and doesn't harm the birds. This has been proven through several studies.

Here is a goldfinch in a net in the prairie restoration area.  Note how hard it is to see.  At LLCC BBS, this is the most common species at certain times of year, especially winter.

Here is LLCC BBS' president about to release a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  This is a northern species migrating south for the winter.  Bands are visible in the lower right of the picture.  They are kept on wires and organized by number, so for instance a certain bird will require a size 1A band, number 63 on the wire.

Here is a blue jay from this season.  All prior pictures were last season.  This is one of Lincoln Land's biology professors who helps to run the station. 

Below is a grey catbird banded today, prior to release.  These are called catbirds for their meowing calls.  They are very common locally in brushy areas.  In the background's woods, more nets are set up, which allows for other species such as this catbird to be caught and studied.  Future posts will show some of the highlights of the bird banding station.