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Banding & Ringing

�Martin Cade http://www.portlandbirdobs.btinternet.co.uk

Much of what we know about birds, and most especially migration, has been learnt from studies involving the catching and identification of individual birds. Banding, (in the USA) otherwise known as ringing, (in the UK) is undertaken by amateurs and professionals all over the world at bird observatories, constant effort sites and elsewhere. Love it or loath it, it has undoubtedly made a great contribution to the science of birding.

Looking out for bands can add to your hobby too and there are websites out there just dedicated to sightings of ringed birds. Somewhere on this page there will be just the link you need if you spot a leg-ring and want to know more, or find a banded bird corpse and want to know what you should do next.

Two different conventions exist. There is the general ringing/banding which attached a lightweight metal ring to the leg of a captured bird that is then returned to the originator if the bird is found dead. This has been used to see which populations migrate where, how birds expand territory etc. There are also banding/ringing schemes using colour bands to make it possible to identify different individuals in the field. This has been used to show, for example, that, contrary to what you may believe, you are not getting the same 4 blue-tits at your garden feeders but, over just a few days it may be 70 different individuals!

useful reading

North American Bird Banding Manual

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/manual/manual.htm - This document is a DRAFT revision of the North American Bird Banding Manual V. 1. It exists in electronic format only and is not available in printed form at this time.

The Ring

http://www.ring.univ.gda.pl
THE RING is an international journal dealing with problems of bird ringing, migration and monitoring bird numbers. The main fields of interest are original papers, review articles and methodical discussions. Information, progress reports, personal comments and short notes or news are also accepted to the informative columns of the journal. Although papers are refereed, conclusions, opinions and discussion are published on the author's responsibility. Innovative and even controversial ideas are appreciated.

clubs

Bird Banding Laboratory

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/
Bird banding is a universal and indispensable technique for studying the movement, survival and behavior of birds. The North American Bird Banding Program is jointly administered by the United States Department of the Interior and the Canadian Wildlife Service...

Bird Ringing in Britain & Ireland

http://www.bto.org/ringing/
Bird ringing in Britain and Ireland is organised and co-ordinated by the BTO. A network of over 2,400 trained and licensed volunteers currently ring over 800,000 birds every year. On average only one in every 50 birds ringed are subsequently found and reported, so every report of a ringed bird is of value...

Bird Rings

http://www.holmer.nl/birdrings.htm
This site shows pictures of metal birdrings and colour rings. These pages are dedicated to all people reading birdrings with telescopes and binoculars.

Catalan Ringing Group (Grup Catal� d'Anellament, GCA)

http://www.ornitologia.org/anellament/index.htm
The Catalan Ringing Group (Grup Catal� d'Anellament, GCA) has just built up a new web page, right now it is only in Catalan (we are still working on an English version) BUT the page has a birding quiz (bird identification game) with two levels and European and American species that is in ENGLISH. Is very simple, but we hope it will be interesting for you.

EURING - The European Union for bird ringing

http://www.euring.org/
Bird ringing? An important technique in ornithology or just a bird watchers hobby? The answer is a fruitful combination of them both. Ringing is a vital tool for scientists, particulary for studying the life histories, population dynamics and movements of birds. Much for the data of this work are gathered by well-trained professional amateurs whose motivation is not money, but the simple privilege of working with birds for the purpose of conservation.

European Colour-ring Birding

http://www.cr-birding.be
Because of the limited number of combinations (codes and colours) and the current high number of projects actually using or intending to use colour marks, coordination of all colour ring schemes is obligatory. To help the national ringing organisations and species coordinators to coordinate all colour marking activities, EURING have formulated guidelines on the use of colour markings...

Highland Ringing Group

The Highland Ringing Group area is highlighted in green on the map below. We are based in the north of Scotland. Local HRG members are scattered around the Moray Firth coast with a few living in remote straths and glens inland or on the coast. Political boundaries embrace Moray/Nairn, Inverness, Lochaber, Ross-shire, Caithness & Sutherland, Skye & Lochalsh.

Inland Banding Asociation

Inland Bird Banding Association was organized in 1922, in Chicago, Illinois, and in that same year began publishing the scientific work of its members. The organization has continued to grow since 1922 and now supports the largest membership of any bird banding association in America. Inland Bird Banding Association is an organization for all individuals interested in the serious study of birds, their life-history, ecology, and conservation.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls Ringing

http://www.hi.is/~gunnih/LBBG_CR.html
This project on Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus graellsii is now ongoing in Iceland. Over 1000 birds have been colour-ringed and a 1000 more will be ringed during next two summers. These birds have been seen in Europe, Africa and one recovery has been made from Puerto Rico! We encourage birdwatchers to look for these birds and report them...

Merseyside Ringing Group - UK

http://www.merseysiderg.org.uk/
Members of the group ring wild birds, mostly in the counties of Cheshire, Merseyside, Flintshire and Denbighshire in North West England and North Wales. The main aim of our work is to benefit the birds through science, education and conservation...

Migratory Bird Populations Division - Bird Banding Office - Canada

http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/nwrc-cnrf/default.asp?lang=En&n=B197CA34-1/
he Canadian Bird Banding Office administers all banding projects taking place in Canada, and provides banding and recovery information on request. Bird banding is an important part of the scientific study of wild birds. When a bird has a uniquely numbered leg band, an ornithologist can recognize it as a distinct individual...

Newbury Ringing Group - Berkshire, UK

http://www.newburyrg.co.uk
All the members of Newbury Ringing Group are volunteers who are enjoying a constructive hobby and contributing to the national bird ringing scheme organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The scientific aims and results of our efforts are explained together with some of the highlights of our work over the last 30 or so years...

Powdermill Avian Research Center

http://www.westol.com/~banding/About_banding.htm
Powdermill Nature Reserve is the field biological station of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The station was established in 1956 through the vision and leadership of then Director of CMNH, Dr. M. Graham Netting...

Trektellen

http://www.trektellen.nl/default.asp?land=1
Migration counts and ringing records The Netherlands, Flanders and France...

Western Bird Banding Association

http://www.westernbirdbanding.org/
...to encourage and promote bird banding as a useful tool in the study of the biology and migration of western birds...

observatories

Ringing & Banding � LBO

http://www.lbo.org.uk/
They have created the best database of Ringing and Banding Internet Links that you will find anywhere in the world so far as I know. Links to websites for ringing and banding and email to lots of those involved in ringing or banding!

reserves

Chew Valley Ringing Station

http://www.chewvalleyringingstation.co.uk
Chew Valley Ringing Station is located in North Somerset just north of the Mendip hills on the southwest shore of Chew Valley Lake and on the A368 road midway between Bath and Weston -S- Mare, between the villages of Bishop Sutton and West Harptree...

mailing lists

Birdband

http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/BIRDBAND
Discussion Group and mailing list for bird banders

CR-Birding

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cr-birding/
You watch a cr-bird whose scheme is not on the Dirk Raes` Website - Mail your data on the list to get the solution! You launch a cr-scheme? Mail its particulars! If you write in your mother tongue, don`t forget to add an English translation in the same mail (English is the default language of this European list).

Australian Bird and Bat Ringing Scheme

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/
On 18th September 1887, an albatross of undetermined species was found near Triggs Island, Western Australia, with a tin collar around its neck which carried the following message: 13 naufrages sont refugies sur les iles Crozet 4 Aout 1887 (thirteen shipwrecked sailors have taken refuge on the Crozet Islands, August 4 1887). This message was telegraphed to the French authorities, who despatched the warship La Meurthe from Madagascar to the Crozets, which are in the south Indian Ocean, and it was established that the message had been attached to the albatross by the crew of the French sailing ship Tamaris, which was wrecked in the Crozets on 9th March 1887. The unfortunate seamen, however, did not live to see the sucessful result of their experiment in bird banding, as they apparently perished in an ill-fated attempt to reach nearby Possession Island, two months before the arrival , on 2nd December 1887 of La Meurthe.

Aviscience

http://www.aviscience.com/
A new and building scientific resource for ornithologists and birders everywhere...

Bird Banders Webring

http://e.webring.com/hub?ring=birdbandersandor
This webring serves the purpose of connecting bird banders, banding operations, and other interested ornithologists together on the world-wide web. It is hoped that such a relationship will help to foster the sharing of information as it relates to birds and bird banding, and to help make the websites of different banding operations more accessible to each other, and to those who are interested in what we do, and why.

Bird Banding

http://homepage.smc.edu/sakai_walter/banding.htm
he Canadian Bird Banding Office administers all banding projects taking place in Canada, and provides banding and recovery information on request. Bird banding is an important part of the scientific study of wild birds. When a bird has a uniquely numbered leg band, an ornithologist can recognize it as a distinct individual...

Bird Banding in Canada

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=223
Bird banding is one of the most useful tools in the study of wild birds. Wild birds are captured and marked, usually with a numbered metal band placed on the leg. The bander records information about the bird, as well as where and when it was banded...

Bird Ringing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_ringing
Wikipedia article...

Colour Mark Recording

http://www.btoipmr.f9.co.uk/cm/cm_codes.htm
This document describes a standard way of recording colour marks (combinations of colour rings, colour rings with enscriptions, multi-coloured rings, leg flags, neck collars, wing tags, nasal tags and saddles...). Many thanks to Alain Fosse for putting together this web page to better show the use of the coding standard (link). Some of the text is in French and English...

Cormorant Coulour Ringing Projects

http://web.tiscali.it/no-redirect-tiscali/sv2001/cormo_crings.htm
Colour-ringing, or generally speaking colour-marking, is a valuable research tool for a variety of bird studies...

European Colour Ring Birding

http://www.cr-birding.be/
With the help of Alain Foss� [LPO Anjou] I started, om 18-08 [my birthday] with an e-group on colour-ring birding . You can free-subscribe to the colour-ring birding by mailing to cr-birding-subscribe@egroups.com and sending messages will be to cr-birding@egroups.com The aim of this group is to exchange information/ observations on colour-ringed birds for example between observers and projectleaders. New is the pages with in several languages some ringing-related words [courtesy of Ingrid Balzer]

Gaviotas y anillas

http://gaviotasyanillas.blogspot.com
Gull observation and Cr-rings�

How to Report a Federal Bird Band in North America

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/homepage/call800.htm
If you are not sure of what kind of band you have found...

Huddleston & Jackson Bird Ringing Partnership

http://www.hjrg.org.uk/
This Web Site is being created to pass on information from the Huddleston & Jackson Bird Ringing (Banding) Partnership that operates in the York area of the UK. Folks with an interest in Ringing/Banding, or the simply curious will enjoy a visit to the excellent new website.

LaB O R I Ng - Passeriformes del Pale�rtico Occidental

http://www.anillamiento.net/guia/
Guide to West Palearctic Passeriformes [In spanish] for ringers and other birders you can add to.

North American Banding Codes

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/z/nom/master.ab4
A [very long] list

Ornithology

http://www.Ornithology.com.
A number of relevant articles

Reporting encounter of marked bird with metal federal band

http://www.reportband.gov
Wildlife Research Center Bird Banding Laboratory

Synergene - Bird Sexing

http://www.birdsexing.com
Bird sexing is at times very difficult. In some species the colour of plumage or difference in size helps to differentiate between the male and female (dimorphic species) but other species of birds are monomorphic and the males and females look identical. Also even with dimorphic birds, most have to be adults before you can detect differences between the two sexes. Synergene offers fast, reliable and cost effective bird sexing services. Our test is non-surgical and non-invasive and hence guarantees the peace of mind for the health of the bird. Our testing procedure carries accuracy greater than 99.9%+ and all tests are handled at Synergene's state-of-the-art molecular laboratory...

Wheatear

http://www.wheatear.biz/
Welcome to Wheatear.biz Since the Mid 1980s we have been carrying out Ornithological Research on a voluntary basis for the British Trust for Ornithology. This has primarily been through the Nest Records and Ringing Schemes. Since 1997 this has been carried out as part of the Huddleston & Jackson Bird Ringing Partnership operating in the York Area.

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