Each year scientists capture and place bands on over a million birds across North America. Several types of bands are used, but the most common ones are small aluminum leg bands which are stamped with a unique number and other information for reporting a band that is found.
Banding activity in the United States is directed by the Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and U.S. Geological Survey, and regulated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Why is banding done? Information from banding birds provide scientists important information about a bird’s life history. Because birds are quite mobile, and often migratory, it is difficult to tell exactly where the birds go during different seasons. If scientists band a bird in one location, and that bird, with its band, is encountered in another location, scientists now have at least two definitive locations for that individual. Band recoveries do not give much information about where the bird is between the two encounters, but knowing where the bird began and where it ended up provides valuable information. Banding birds also can give information on harvest in game birds, as well as population sizes and status.
In Kansas, several bird banding stations are utilized at different times of the year, targeting different species of birds. For instance, Fort Hays State University maintains a banding location on the FHSU campus during the Fall to capture and band migrating song birds. This station has been in operation for over 40 years and provides students and other volunteers an excellent opportunity to research birds migrating through the area.
During the Summer months, Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism employees also band doves throughout the state as part of a nationwide dove banding program. The dove banding project in Kansas has banded over 11,000 doves in the last decade.
During June, dove trapping sites are located and baited with sunflower and other seeds to attract doves to that location. In July, during most mornings and evenings, wire funnel traps on the ground are used to capture doves so they can be banded. Traps are checked frequently and any doves captured are removed, aged, sexed, and assessed for their feather molt. The metal leg band is secured using a special pliers and the bird is released on its way.
Dove banding occurs at many locations across Kansas, including here in Barton County.
Occasionally, previously banded birds are recaptured and documented. Recaptures, whether from the traps or through harvest, provide the useful information researchers are interested in. People who find banded birds report their find by either calling in details of their find or reporting it on the website www.reportband.gov. After reporting a band recovery, the banding laboratory typically sends the reporter a certificate which gives basic information about where that bird was originally banded.
Other species are also regularly banded in Kansas, especially waterfowl. Harvesting a banded duck or goose is often considered a trophy to most hunters, who collect the bands.
Around Cheyenne Bottoms, banding has a long history because of individuals like Frank Robl who banded thousands of ducks and geese around his farm near Ellinwood in the 1920’s and 30’s and Ed Martinez, who banded thousands of shorebirds at Cheyenne Bottoms in the 1960’s and 70’s. Band recoveries resulting from these two men’s efforts helped identify migration routes for many species along the Central Flyway and helped establish Cheyenne Bottom’s international importance.
So, there is more to banding than just giving the birds a little bling!