Osprey by satellite

Recently there's been press about Osprey migration; Backpacking Ospreys was a feature over at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology.

Their great article and map highlight the work of Dr. Bierregaard, Osprey researcher extraordinaire.

...a three-month-old female Osprey named Penelope pushed off from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and flew, alone, 2,700 miles to French Guiana in 13 days.

That, my friends, is why Cornell's article, Backpacking Ospreys, needs to be read. And then Dr. Bierregaard's page needs to be perused. Pure, delicious, researchy goodness.

Birding Community E-Bulletin highlights

From the Birding Community E-Bulletin - Nov. 2010

LOOK FOR EGRETS WITH MARKINGS

Also in Canada, this time in southern Ontario, we have news about Great Egrets.

In the past decade, over 1,200 young Great Egrets have been banded with readable red leg-bands marked with white alpha numerics (number-number-letter) in the Great Lakes region and southward. This year, over 100 egrets were marked with very obvious orange wing-tags with similar alpha-numerics. If you see any marked egrets bearing red leg-bands or with bright orange wing-tags, please try to accurately read the number-letter combinations and report the details (where and when observed and by whom). Send any observations to: chip.weseloh@ec.gc.ca

***

BIRD HAZARD SURVEY

Researchers at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, are studying the risks and benefits to birds caused by human behavior and technology (e.g., alternative energy efforts, cats, windows, and communications) as they are perceived by Americans with varying interests in birds. The researchers do not expect those responding to the survey to know the degree of risk associated with each of these behaviors or technologies. Indeed, some consequences remain unknown. The responses on these perceived risks will help more fully understand public opinions and behavior. The responses are expected to provide tools to raise bird conservation awareness.

The anonymous online survey (which takes about 25 minutes to complete) can be found here: ( http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BDFEUJWXT )

Hummingbird banding

...in November! (original link here)

Today, Wednesday, we hosted bander Kelly Bryan (of West Texas Hummingbirds) who was assisted by Carolyn Ohl of the Christmas Mountains Oasis. At 9 AM the trap was set up and within 10 minutes, the female Anna's was in hand. Before the end of the hour, the latest documented Black-chinned Hummingbird (also female) was banded and on its way!

From Kelly's e-mail prior to the banding:

There are no records beyond Oct 29 for Black-chinned and Oct 31 for Ruby-throats; however I do have two winter records for Ruby-throat (Dec for one and Jan through April for the other). ... So far I have banded 58 Anna's this fall and the last BCHU was Oct 17 and the last RTHU was Oct 4.

For those unfamiliar with banding code:
BCHU = Black-chinned Hummingbird
RTHU = Ruby-throated Hummingbird

So it goes without saying that we're thrilled to be a part of Kelly's banding research. We're even more excited that we didn't lure him all the way out here and not have a decent record for him. November 10 and two species of hummers... not so bad, eh?



...captions and further explanations will be added after a supply run and a few loads of laundry and maybe another coat of paint. Our apologies!

RFI: Bristle-thighed Curlews

From the Ornithological Society of North America comes Neswsletter #198, which includes this request:

BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEWS COLOR-MARKED IN ALASKA –
Thirty-two Bristle-thighed Curlews were uniquely marked with coded leg flags on the breeding grounds in western Alaska in the summer of 2010 as part of a three year mark-resight project. Additional curlews will be marked during the breeding season in 2011 and 2012. The ultimate goal of this project is to collect data that will be used to estimate the current size of the curlew population breeding in the southern Nulato Hills. Each curlew has a green flag on its upper right leg and a standard federal metal band on its upper left leg. The green flag has a unique code consisting of two white characters (either two numbers or two letters). Please report all sightings to KRISTINE SOWL, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 346, Bethel, Alaska 99559, USA (EM: kristine_sowl@fws.gov). Please note the date, the leg flag code, location of the bird, and its behavior. Copies of photographs of the individual may provide information on sex. Thank you for your assistance.

Egrets among us

Occasionally there will be a post on Texbirds (the Texas bird sighting list) about a bird with a band or tag or dye. Recently the bird in question was a white morph of the Reddish Egret.

The fellow in charge of the project, Clay Green, was fairly quickly found and kindly gave permission to post about his project here. To visit his site, click here - waterbird colony research awaits!

Because the bird is so young, there's not much data on it:
I dont know much more about the bird but it has been foraging along Texas coast since it fledged the nest in July. We have been tracking it regularly, we get latitude-longtidue fixes every 48 hours... Attached is a jpeg map of the bird's movement, we just banded it in June so it hasn't moved that much, but you can see at least where it has been going...

So this young one hatched in June of 2010, was banded in July, and this map shows through the middle of September:





















With those dots representing 48 hr intervals, the huge gaps are distances covered in only two days. Dot clusters then show places that the bird loitered for extended amounts of time. I wonder if it will return to the rookery where it hatched to breed?

Knots in the news

The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network has a fantastic reference page, mentioned in the previous post, Birding for Banded Shorebirds - it's worth printing out and keeping a copy on hand if you bird coastal areas much.

So when I came across another note on banded shorebirds, I had to share that link again before adding an article about Red Knots (Calidris canutus) from the Corpus Christi area.

Bag 'em, flag 'em and tag 'em
Coastal Bend bird biologist tracking red knots

Keep your eyes open! Red Knots are seriously declining and research like this is helping track the populations as they migrate globally.

Birding for Banded Birds

This post was an e-mail to Texbirds in mid September, it is posted here with permission from Brent - enjoy!

****

Birding for Banded Birds

Sat Sep 11 12:46:36 2010


Birding for Banded Shorebirds

Several times per year people ask how to report banded birds. Many of the banded birds that have color markers are shorebirds. It is not difficult to locate a color marked bird and the information is very useful to the researchers and can be quite interesting to the reporter.

A recent report from the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network is pasted above for your use.

A number of color marking programs in which I am familiar are for Piping Plover, Snowy Plover, Red Knot, Long-billed Curlew, Reddish Egret, Black Skimmer, Purple Martin, hummingbirds, Turkey Vulture, Black-capped Vireo.


Brent Ortego
Victoria, TX

Short-tailed Albatross as 'bycatch'

Here's a press release from the American Bird Conservancy:

Short-tailed Albatross Death on Longline Hook Underscores Need for Revamped Alaskan Fisheries Observer Program

The last two paragraphs from the post:

The albatross killed in the Bering Sea wore a metal leg band identifying it as a 7 ½ year old bird from Torishima Island in Japan, where the majority of Short-tailed Albatrosses breed.

The Short-tailed Albatross was once the most abundant of the North Pacific albatross species, numbering more than a million birds. It was decimated by feather hunting at the turn of the 20th Century, and by the late 1940s was thought to be extinct. In the early 1950s, ten pairs were discovered breeding on Torishima, and the population has now reached 3,000 individuals. For the last five years, the Short-tailed Albatross Recovery Team, an international group of collaborators, have been working on establishing a colony that is safe from volcanic activity and other problems.

(emphasis mine)

Yellow-crowned Night Herons

I am absolutely enthralled with the idea of banding all rehab birds. It's not common by any means but a group in Houston, WR&E, participates when it comes to Yellow-crowned Night Herons. They're a fantastic species to observe hunting, and they often congregate in populated areas along the coast (many wading birds prefer undisturbed habitats) so they're ideal for a project like banding.

Without further delay: Ongoing Research from Wildlife Rehab & Education

correspondence - MI birds

Greetings.

I have been meaning to pass along our page of recoveries of banded birds from the Rouge River Bird Observatory outside Detroit, MI. This page has a map of recoveries outside of Michigan, and there are a couple links on the sidebar of stories about one of our waterthrushes being recovered, and our recovery of a kinglet from Toronto that your readers might find interesting:

Rouge River Bird Observatory band resightings

Thanks for promoting the reporting of bands!

--

Julie A. Craves
Rouge River Bird Observatory
University of Michigan-Dearborn

http://www.rrbo.org
http://net-results.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/RRBO

hummer followup

Fred granted me permission to share these e-mails on the blog, the first on August 3rd and the second on August 9th. Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing this information with others. It is such good publicity for what we are doing in addition to being a remarkable record. I can't wait to see if she returns to Tallahassee this winter, that would be fantastic.

We are lucky that hummers are so loved by their hosts, they become a part of their family. This makes it a lot easier to find people willing to let us band "their" winter guests. Hopefully all this attention will increase the number of people that leave feeders up in the winter and let us know when they have a bird in their yard. Like its been said, "you never know what you'll find out when you put a band on a bird's leg"

Fred Dietrich

***

I just got back from West Virginia where Bob Sargent was training new hummingbird banders. One of the birds we caught had been banded previously, but it was a different series than ones that had been used at this site before. It turned out that the bird had been banded by another member of our crew in Pell City, Alabama on September 1, 2009. That is about 500 miles SSW of where it was recaptured and it appears to be right on schedule on it's migration.

Fred

***

The hummingbird in the Aug. 9th e-mail is Ruby-throated. This sort of recapture event is exciting for everyone because it does show active, annual migration that can be tracked in one individual as a representative for others of its species.

Loggerhead Shrike

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE

LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE SIGHTINGS – Loggerhead shrikes are declining across much of their range. In Canada, the Eastern subspecies is considered critically endangered, with less than 35 pairs found in 2009. The vast majority of pairs now breed in Ontario. An extremely active and multi-faceted recovery program is underway for this species in Ontario, including a captive breeding and release program. This program has been releasing approximately 100 juvenile shrikes annually since 2006. While much is known and has been learned about this species, a critical piece of the puzzle is still missing: where exactly do these birds spend the winter? To maximize our chances of locating wintering areas and better define migration routes we will be coloring the breast of released young produced from the captive breeding program, to make them more detectable by birders. Birds will be released over July and August. Birds will have an extensive area of their breast colored in green, blue or purple. All released birds, and a large proportion of the wild population, are also color banded. If you see a shrike with a colored breast and/or wearing bands, please report it to Wildlife Preservation Canada at (EM: jessica@wildlifepreservation.ca, PH: 519-836-9314, FX: 519-836-8840). We will need details about specific location (GPS coordinates are ideal, but not essential) and color(s) (breast and/or bands) seen.

(from OSNA http://www.osnabirds.org/on/197.htm )

Aplomado Falcons

For all of July, August and half of September, I'm in west Texas - the project? Releasing young Northern Aplomado Falcons into the wild for The Peregrine Fund.

To read up on the project, check out "Aplomado Falcon Updates" from TPF. Or, for all of the Aplomado tagged posts at See Trail, click here.

Hopefully I'll have some exciting things to post at the end of the season, but until then, we're keeping busy!

4,000 miles by Rufous Hummingbird!

The July Gulf Coast Bird Observatory newsletter contained this gem:

Last January 13, Fred Dietrich, a hummingbird bander, put a numbered band on a Rufous Hummingbird that was coming to a feeder at a home in Tallahassee Florida. Fred determined that it was a second year female, meaning it had been hatched the previous summer. Fast forward to June 28. In Chenega Bay Alaska, Kate McLaughlin caught a Rufous Hummingbird with someone else's band on it. Yep, you guessed it - it was Fred's bird from Florida! This little hummingbird was nesting nearly 4,000 miles from where she spent the winter. Wow! Rufous Hummingbirds (along with several other species) commonly spend their winter in the southeastern U.S. including Texas. This recovery is significant as the longest distance between capture sites but also because it gives us information about migration routes of these birds. Without banding, we would never know these things. Leave your hummingbird feeder up this winter and see if you get a special winter visitor.

This is backdated; I'd have posted it when I got it, but I've been monitoring (you guessed it!) banded birds in west Texas!

Another fantastic blog post about this record is at burdr.com - check it out!

Baby Pictures

This post was originally featured at seetrail under the title Camp Eagle. It has been slightly edited for relevance. -h

Swapping e-mails with a supportive and enthusiastic researcher certainly does seem reminiscent of swapping family photos - except our exchange started with blurry through-binoculars pictures. Funny, I'd hope that most family photos are a bit more direct than a stealthy drive-by 10x zoom plus 8x42 bins... it's more like espionage than a Christmas card photo.

Still, in a way it's like having an old friend and comparing baby pictures:



A photo of Anakin enjoying a ride in the jeep. Awww.

And here's Brian's little one:



Here's a pic from the day she was fitted with an transmitter. The falconry hood assists in keeping the eaglet calm during the fitting process.

Since this project is ultimately not hands-on except for the fitting, it's neat to see that others contribute photos as well:



Photographed in South Miami-Dade county. [...] The eaglet sighting and photograph was taken by Katy Raits in November 2007.

...it's exciting to hear back about the bird you've spotted, but it's remarkably awesome to know that the life history of the critter is not only being documented, but shared with innocent bystanders who take the time and effort to look into the sightings. I guess that makes us part of the "Camp Eagle" fan club - and by extension, our readers get to be subjected to our enthusiastic whims :)

Perhaps other couples experience this kind of nostalgia, when they open an e-mail from a researcher whose bird they saw... two weeks ago. Hey, you've gotta start somewhere!

When looking at a Bald Eagle with a fully white head and tail, you know the bird is at least 4 years old; young ones have varying degrees of light patches but are predominantly dark.

Curlews on the move

Recently there has been some curlew migration discussion on the Texbirds mailing list. Never one to let something cool slip by me, I e-mailed Joel about the project.

Nebraska Long-billed Curlew Tracking Project is following two female Long-Billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) - the site is amazing. One has not been heard from since December, but the other has made an early fall migration; she left the wintering grounds in April, and is almost back on them already and it's only mid June!

"Feel free to blog about the project and the website. It is a fun part of the curlew project and I think people find it interesting."

...Joel's suggestion that this study is interesting is an understatement. Take a look at Long-billed Curlew life history. First of all, it's a sandy colored bird about the size of a football. On stilts. With a long neck. And a beak that is longer than its legs. The curlew tracking project takes this fantastically proportioned bird and then adds a telemetry pack. The fine print also lists their life expectancy of 8-10 years.

Joel also offered some reassurance to my question of whether or not the transmitter interfered with mating: "I do not believe the satellite transmitter interfere with mating, other than the small battery, the rest of the transmitter is flexible."

And now for a paragraph of sage advice, and part of the wisdom behind all bird tracking (emphasis mine):

Why Track Long-billed Curlews?

Long-billed Curlew are migratory shorebirds that spend only a quarter or a third of their annual cycle on their Nebraska breeding grounds. While understanding Long-billed Curlew reproductive ecology in Nebraska is important and is part of the broader project, knowing where Nebraska curlews spend the rest of the year is equally important. For instance, the species' habitat and food resources may be secure in Nebraska, but curlews may face threats on their wintering grounds in Texas, California, or Mexico (we don't know for sure where Nebraska curlews go?). Linking birds breeding grounds with their wintering areas and migrations routes is key to conserving the species.

And so we end on a note of conservation: as guests on this planet, we need to make sure that what we do is not at the expense of others. Birds know no borders.

behind the Black-whiskered Vireo

In the summer of 2009, my spouse and I witnessed a very active Black-whiskered Vireo rummaging around the treetops of Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park. Whew. What a name! Anyway, the bird and its unbanded companion were the highlight of our time on Key Largo - so naturally we reported the banded bird and waited. And waited. And finally this spring we were prompted by the Bananaquit bander (see previous post) to re-send the information.

Hi Ms. Trudell,

Thanks for getting in touch with the Bird Banding Lab to report that you saw my bird! I've sent them a bit of information regarding when and where it was banded, so I think you should be getting a certificate of appreciation from them. I banded that guy (and yes, it is a male) on July 5th of last year, at Dagny Johnson. I'm happy that you saw him! Unless I'm mistaken, it was towards the end of last July that you spotted him?

As I said, you should be hearing from the Bird Banding Lab - but I'm more than happy to tell you a bit about my research and why I was banding Black-whiskered Vireos, if you'd like to know.

Thanks again for reporting your sighting!

Catherine Dale

***********************************************************
Catherine Dale
PhD Candidate
Department of Biology
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario
***********************************************************

So when we saw the bird on July 29, he had only been wearing those bands for 24 days! Right leg color bands were green over pink, left leg was [some color we couldn't make out] over silver. Since the e-mail confirms that he was actually banded where we spotted him, it's neat to see that he hung around even after being accosted and color marked.

Banded Bananaquits!

If you're still laughing about the title, check out the wiki page.

In my continuing effort to figure out which organization to contact for the West Indies (re: Black-whiskered Vireo that might not be through USGS), I found this: Bananaquit info by Chipper Woods Bird Observatory, hosted by Wild Birds Unlimited. It's not about banding per se, but the photos and discussion are pretty exciting.

Of note, under "Banding Recoveries" it mentions this:

Between 1955 and 2000, 12,074 Bananaquits were banded. A 2003 survey in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Mexico and Puerto Rico) to detect resident and migratory birds infected with West Nile Virus found that Bananaquits do harbor the West Nile Virus (Dupuis II et al. 2003).

If you should recover a banded Bananaquit, please report the band number to the Bird Banding Lab by calling 1-800-327-BAND.

...so not only did the Bananaquit banding in this case allow regular measurements and physiological data to be collected, it also added to the knowledge of West Nile Virus carriers. Pretty neat stuff.

Eagles and bands and collars, oh my!

Edit: this post is from SeeTrail, where it was originally posted as "eagles with accessories"

Here's a post for the technophiles among us:



"It's just a map," you say. Of course it's a map, that's how people learn things!



...and now you're accusing me of posting the blurry rump of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). That accusation stands true as well. What doesn't show up in that photo is a little pack that is attached to the bird - and transmits information about the bird's geographic movement to a researcher named Brian.

Brian Mealey is the Executive Director, and thus primary researcher, when it comes to radio-collared Bald Eagles in the Everglades. There's even a page on the site that gives you a sample pair of eagle "tracks" from previous years.

We found Brian via the Tropical Audubon Society bird board, when I posted this query:
Ok, I know we bugged out of SE FL a while ago, but we were reviewing
pictures and one of the Bald Eagles in a fallow field along 997 (I
think that's the road north from Everglades NP to Hwy 41 and 75?) had
a transmitter on its back.

USGS doesn't have a category for reporting collared eagles, perhaps
y'all know of a local project?

In no time at all, "tricia" had responded to my post with:
It is probably one of Brian Mealey's birds.
follow this link and you can email him.
http://www.instwildlifesciences.org/eaglemain.html

So much for my own sleuthing! At least we had enough information from our sighting to e-mail Brian and sound more intelligent than "we saw an eagle and it had an antenna on it" - I'm sure researchers get that a lot.



Matt pointing to the Bald Eagle in a fallow field - there were also White Ibis, Black-necked Stilts, Laughing Gulls, American Crows, and Boat-tailed Grackles present. Then a tractor scared them. Sigh.

My e-mail to Brian:
My husband and I were on our way from Everglade NP back to hwy 41 and
maybe a mile south of the "Robert is here" fruit stand on 997, we
passed a fallow field with two eagles. One of them had a transmitter
backpack - since we didn't see bands or wing tags, I'm not sure that
the sighting is of any use to you, since the transmitter is probably
working... just wanted to say that it was quite a highlight on our
trip =) Exact date would be 7/28/09, I'd have to get back to you on
what time in the afternoon, though.

Brian's enthusiastic response:
Thank you Heidi!

Always useful and it great to know that folks are always on the look
out for wildlife!

I'm attaching a map of the most recent movement of Camp Eagle (56105)
includes your sighting.

Camp Eagle was banded as a nestling (about 50 days old) and fitted
with a transmitter back in March 2005! She's beating the odds of
survival!!!!! Yeah!

[truncated here -h]

If that first map wasn't nifty enough, here's the detailed map of SE FL activities during the time that Matt and I saw "Camp Eagle" (when was the last time you could put the name to a bird you were watching? ...on a project that's not yours??)



This map is infinitely cool, not just because it shows ample movement in the protected zone of Everglades National Park and tracks adventures east of Homestead, but because it even highlights the fruity awesomeness that is the "Robert is Here" fruit stand! And of course, we were just a bit south of "Robert is Here" when we saw "Camp Eagle," so our story has been validated with a bit of telemetry handiwork.

In the meantime, Brian reports that he is in the midst of analysis and manuscript work, so at some point in the near future, we'll get to find out what information "Camp Eagle" contributed by toting around the transmitter.

from "the Marvelous in nature" to you...

Seabrooke is a nature blogger like no other (and a bander as well!). One of her recent posts is an absolute must-read for anyone curious about banding. Why is it done? Who does it? What data is collected? While her post is geared towards her specific banding site (not all locations are seasonal), it also addresses a lot of the basics.

Without further ado, "On banding birds" from the Marvelous in nature."

An excerpt from the comments:

...a bird in its lifetime only ever gets the one silver, numbered band, unless that one is so old, and so worn, that the numbers are hard to read, in which case it’s removed and replaced. It only ever wears one at a time, though. Some projects will also put coloured plastic bands on them in addition to the silver ones, to make them easier to identify from a distance...

Colored leg bands (FL Scrub Jay) and wing tags (Am. White Pelican) are what this blog was started for - the ridiculously neat birds we've spotted in our adventures. Hopefully your path will cross with some of these critters, their stories are all unique and definitely worth the effort to look up!

Pending: Irish Robin

So the month of March doesn't echo like a hollow well, here's a taste of what will hopefully be the next post: Andrea's Robin, from her "Ireland, day 2" post

Andrea is a student from Florida who has been studying abroad; I'll let her provide any additional details. The thrill that I felt when I saw her post was twofold because not only did she get to see and photograph a very cooperative Robin (also European Robin, Erithacus rubecula), it's color banded in addition to the metal band! So even without getting a look at the metal band's numbers, there's a pretty decent chance of tracking this individual. (Kind of like the last full post with the Florida Scrub Jay!)

Hopefully I'll even get some links up for Euring (edit: voila, EURING is now in the sidebar!) so this blog can be less North-American-centric =)

Travels of a Peregrine

Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education recently posted an entry: The Stories They Could Tell. It's a wonderfully informative blog, this post is of particular interest because it actually tracks a male Peregrine Falcon who had been banded as a wee fledgie in 2007 and ended up in Houston with my "old" rehabber.

FL Scrub Jay paper trail

(originally posted at Seetrail) I can't believe I didn't post this when the e-mail came in, but here's a look behind one Florida Scrub Jay (from Matt's Scrub-Jays, the Floridians post)

A few details are omitted for privacy, but this is a fascinating look at what goes on in the background! We knew the odds were good that this bird had a story - every jay at Oscar Scherer State Park is banded, but hey, why not look into it?

Here's the bird in question:



And here's the series of e-mails in chronological order:


USGS-PATUXENT WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTER
12100 Beech Forest Road
Laurel, Maryland 20708-4037
FAX 301-497-5717
AUGUST 11, 2009

In Reply Refer To: BLL-19.2A

Dear Ms B,

The United States Geological Survey authorizes and coordinates the use of auxiliary-marking devices on all wild, migratory birds. Such devices allow researchers to identify individual or groups of birds from a distance, thus helping them in their studies of various aspects of avian biology.

Enclosed is copy of a letter reporting an auxiliary-marked bird. Our records indicate that you are using markers of this type. Because there is no way from this sighting to identify the individual bird to a specific band number, we will not be able to provide the observer with a certificate. If you believe this to be a bird you marked, it is imperative that you contact the observer with any information you have concerning your studies. If this marker is not yours, please accept our apologies and notify me. If you know of another researcher using similar markers, please indicate the name and/or permit number on the letter.

We have provided a copy of this letter to the observer, who will be anticipating your prompt response.

Sincerely,

D B, Biologist
Bird Banding Laboratory


See ORIGINAL REPORT below:

ORIGINAL REPORT

Email Address: h.trudell [at] gmail [dot] com
Type: color leg band w/o codes
Species: Florida Scrub Jay
Marker Color: white
Other Marker Color:
Code Color: white
Other Code Color:
Pattern of Codes: row
Row:
Top:
Bottom:
Upright:
Sideways:
Other:
Web:
Radio:
How Code: live bird how 29/pres cond 07
How Other:
Recovery Date Type: Exact
Exact Date: 26/07/09
Inexact Date of Recovery:
Recovery Location Descript: Oscar Scherer State Park, the "scrub jay" loop
Recovery Location: USA
Other Country:
State: Florida
County: Sarasota
Miles: 3
Direction: SE
Town: Osprey, FL
Name: H Trudell
Street 1: [street]
Street 2:
City: Waco
State: TX
Zip:
Country:
Phone Number:
Fax Number:

Comment: Right leg was white band over silver/service band, left leg had no bands.


***

From: B, J
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:44 PM
To: M, K
Subject: FW: BLL-192.A: STATE OF FLORIDA - NONGAME / MS B (21980)

These are fun…..do you know this bird?

***

From: M, K
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:46 PM
To: B, J
Subject: RE: BLL-192.A: STATE OF FLORIDA - NONGAME / MS J B (21980)

Probably banded at Oscar Scherer by T H.

-K
__________________
K M, Ph.D.
Upland Nongame Bird Lead
Wildlife Research Laboratory - FWRI
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

***

from H, T
to "H. Trudell"
cc KM, JB, RD
date Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 11:43 AM
subject RE: Banded Florida scrub-jay

Hello,
We conduct a monthly census of Florida Scrub-jays at Oscar Scherer State Park.
We have not recently had a bird identified with a White over Silver/service, and no bands on the left leg.
However, we do have a bird identified with a Flesh over Silver/service on its right leg, and no bands on its left leg.
This bird was banded at Oscar Scherer State Park on March 24, 1999, and the flesh band has faded.
The bird is currently the male breeder in its territory in the vicinity of the campground.

T H
Environmental Specialist III
District 4, Florida Park Service
Department of Environmental Protection

***

So there you have it - an adult male bird who has been rockin' OSSP for over 10 years now! I'm glad I didn't just get a certificate, it's so much more fun to hear the details. It didn't take much sleuthing for the bander to let us know that the "flesh" band had faded to white, but that's the sort of thing that regular monitoring tells you. Not bad, for 10 years of sun bleaching in Florida.

What a handsome fellow.

the inspiration

Be sure to check out the "Welcome" page - it has information on how to report banded and tagged birds! Otherwise, discussion and history is fair game.


Here are a few stories of reports past, ones that inspired us to collect information and share with other curious minds:

A Dove and a Pelican from Big Country Audubon (TX)

eagles with accessories and Camp Eagle from Seetrail (FL)

Edit: "eagles with accessories" has been reposted in this blog as "Eagles and bands and collars, oh my!"

Appleton to Alamo; 1,482 miles by pelican & Jeff and pelicans from Seetrail (TX)