Saving Birds with a Ring and a Prayer

Organized bird banding has evolved in the past century as a means of scientifically tracking birds. The Bird Banding Laboratory of the US Geological Survey was founded in 1920, and now acts as a clearinghouse for all data collected on banded birds. Over 60 million birds have been banded in the past...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSmithsonian Vol. 30; no. 6; p. 44
Main Author Weidensaul, Scott
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Smithsonian Associates 01.09.1999
Smithsonian Magazine
Subjects
Animal populations
Aquatic birds
Bird migration
Birds
Songbirds
North America
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Summary:Organized bird banding has evolved in the past century as a means of scientifically tracking birds. The Bird Banding Laboratory of the US Geological Survey was founded in 1920, and now acts as a clearinghouse for all data collected on banded birds. Over 60 million birds have been banded in the past century, and 3.3 million bands have been reported, including 80,000 in the past year. Banders have developed special techniques to capture and band birds, depending upon the requirements of the species. Banding is especially important for tracking the species that are in decline, such as the painted bunting and indigo bunting.
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ISSN:0037-7333
1930-5508