Bird Banding: A Perfect Mix of Education and Research
May 25, 2010
Article in: Birding
I grew up with the luxury of frequent visits to the Sand Bluff Bird Observatory (SBBO), a large banding station in North Central Illinois. I learned about the banding process and how to properly hold, band and release birds.
Lee Johnson: Master Bander and founder of the SBBO
Not everyone has been fortunate enough to see bird banding first-hand. The banding demonstrations during the Biggest Week in American Birding by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) was a great way to show others this amazing research process.
Showing off Baltimore Orioles
The awesome BSBO folks Kim Kaufman (Executive Director), Ken Keffer (Education Director) and Mark Shieldcastle (Research Director) did a spectacular job of answering questions and explaining the importance of banding research.
Some Common Questions:
Does the band hurt the bird?
The band does not hurt the birds in any way. It is just an information bracelet and causes no Physical harm to the bird.
Ken Keffer (left) with a Red-winged Blackbird and Mark Shieldcastle (right)
Doesn’t this stress the birds out?
It does stress them out a little, but they have made an incredible journey; some came from as far as South America. They are tough birds and this critical research helps us know how to conserve their land. Banders watch for signs of stress and ALWAYS put the birds’ health first.
Kim Kaufman with a White-crowned Sparrow
Can I pet the bird?
Petting a bird is not advisable. Because feathers are so important, birds must spend some time maintaining them (preening). Most birds have an oil gland and use their beak to put that oil on their feathers. The birds time is better spent on finding food than replacing those oils.
Mark Shieldcastle with a Magnolia Warbler
Bird banding demonstrations are a key way to involve new birders and get them interested in conservation. It allows people to learn more about the research and gives newcomers a look at what they can find in the area.
Dakota with a White-throated Sparrow
Banding Birds at Birdfest 2009
May 12, 2009
Article in: Bird Conservation
Each year during the month of May, Sand Bluff Bird Observatory (SBBO) hosts their Bird Fest. This festival centers around teaching the public about the wonders of birds, specifically focusing on the process of bird banding (or ringing). Each year we try to stop in for a little bit but this is also the weekend that the Illinois Spring Bird Count is, and we are usually out counting birds. This year was different because Jennie (Veery) graduated from Northern Illinois University so we were busy with that.
Henslow’s Sparrow – so close you could smell his grasshopper breath
This year we were able to take our visiting aunt to Bird Fest for a couple of hours and, as always, it was loads of fun.
Bird banding is one of the most underfunded yet highly rewarded research efforts. The process works like this:
- put up mist nets in high bird traffic locations
- walk the nets and remove captured birds
- place captured birds in nets
- band birds with numbered bands
- record all information
- release bird
When an excellent bird is found, the Bird-arazzi heads outside to capture up-close photos. This Henslow’s Sparrow was a major highlight as it was the 2nd one banded in three days and only the fourth in 43 years at this location.
However, this Baltimore Oriole quickly stole the show. Perhaps it was his flashy orange? (We still love our brown sparrows though.)
Besides seeing birds super close, bird banding at SBBO is the ultimate learning experience. You may be an expert birder, but if you’ve never listened to the grand master, Lee Johnson, you are missing out. His encyclopedic knowledge of birds borders on supernatural.
Lee Johnson holding a Gray Catbird and firing off hundreds of nuggets of information
Birds are banded every Saturday and Sunday at Colored Sands Forest Preserve during spring and fall migration. They are funded entirely on donations and events like Bird Fest, so it was fun to support their effort (and see a lot of great birding friends in the process).
While we were milling about outside (awaiting yet another photo-op), one of the master banders, Richard Hamilton, briskly walked down the path cradling a large bird in his coat. What he brought out was a Cooper’s Hawk.
Our friend Mike Eickman held the hawk for photos
Whenever a hawk is caught in the nets it is a race against time to get them out before they break free on their own. SBBO also bands raptors at a special location, but this bird was caught in the “regular” nets.
Bird banding is an excellent way to get close views of an amazing array of birds and the perfect place to bring fledgling birders.
Banded American Oystercatcher
August 13, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Thanks to Birdchick who posted about a banded American Oystercatcher, we reported one that we found at South Beach, Massachusetts.
Here we have AMOY “yellow #60″ or who we’ve named Yogi as in the great baseballcatcher, Yogi Berra
The American Oystercatcher or AMOY Banding project is a fascinating project focused on these fun shorebirds. Shortly after submitting our band, we received confirmation about the bird.
Yogi was banded at South Beach this year as an adult. It will be fun to hear if he or she is found feeding somewhere way south.
Read more about American Oystercatchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Lazuli Bunting
April 29, 2007
Article in: Bird Conservation
Our local bird banding station, Sand Bluff Bird Observatory, perhaps the finest in the midwest, had a surprising visitor today. A Lazuli Bunting showed up; the first one banded here! Normally Lazuli Buntings are found west of northern Illinois in places like Nebraska and the Dakotas.
Lazuli Bunting
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Swamp Sparrow (was originally called a Lincoln’s Sparrow by the bander)
Another view of the Lazuli
Sand Bluff Bird Observatory – Banding Data Fall 2006
March 27, 2007
Article in: Bird Conservation
I just got my hands on last fall's banding season data at Sand Bluff Bird Observatory (SBBO) at Colored Sands Forest Preserve in Winnebago County. While I won't go through each species banded, I will try to give some of the highlights.
First of all, there were two never before banded birds at SBBO: Bank Swallow and Cliff Swallow. Some of the rare birds caught and banded were Acadian Flycatcher, Harris's Sparrow, and LeConte's Sparrow. A large amount of Cape May Warblers were banded (17) and Dickcissels were captured for the first time in the fall (20). Dickcissels nest at Colored Sands. Another cool bird banded was a Whip-poor-will, a bird I've seen only once (at Colored Sands). We had thought the bird was being banded but we found it calling from the roof of the building.
While it is hard to come up with accurate trends (I will have to get my hands on more data), most of the "normal" species were well represented. There were 24 species of warblers, 9 species of flycatchers, 5 vireos, 15 sparrows, and a host of others. Total number of birds banded were 4,758 making up 105 species.
The spring banding has already begun and I hope to get some really excellent bird photos and hopefully some more detailed data.
