What is Bird Banding?
Bird Marking is a Time-honored Method for Repeatedly Identifying Individual Birds
Bird banding has been used for 100 years to keep track of the activities of wild birds. Today's system uses bands, tags, flags, collars, markers etc.
Dr. Paul Bartsch of the Smithsonian Institution started bird banding in 1902. In its simplest form, it involves putting a metal or plastic band around the leg of a wild bird and then releasing the bird back into the wild. If the bird is recovered, either dead or alive, at a future time, the information is sent to the original bander. In this way, scientists can find out how far birds travel, how long they live, where they nest and spend the winter, whether species populations are rising or falling, and many other details of their lives.
Bird banding and bird marking has become far more complex and systematic since Bartsch’s time. Today, band colors and the placement of bands identify countries and other types of bird markers are fixed to bills, webbed feet, necks, tails and wings. Dyes are used on feathers and radio transmitters are used to track birds from day to day. Some markers are designed to wear off in time while others are meant to be permanent. The continued development of wireless and nano- technology promises to continue to change the possibilities for banding and marking wild birds.
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