Bird Banding & Ringing

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About Bird Banding & Ringing

This group is for your photos related to the responsible mist netting, handling, and banding (Americas) or ringing (Europe) of birds. Welcome to it!

Please try to include the location (via geotagging or simple labels) of your birds. Any info you have on the age or sex of the bird, and spread-wing shots are especially of interest to banders.

Bird banding/ringing takes place all over the world for a number of reasons. It is the easiest and most ubiquitous way to keep track of individual birds throughout their lives, to track movements, survivorship, productivity, and to map their territories. Banding data is among our very best resources on the world's birds.

Banding birds is also an amazing opportunity to see and handle great birds up close, studying variations and molt. A bird in the hand can often be identified to a much more specific age than is generally possible in the field. For youngsters, the chance to touch or release a bird is a very inspiring thing, and could lead to a lifetime of enjoyment.

Banders must be specially trained and certified to be competent in banding alone. There are risks involved for the birds, so the training is taken very seriously. Birds are held in a particular way that is actually quite comfortable for them, in that they feel immobilized and relatively safe. Everything possible is done to limit the stress to the bird while extracting valuable data that feeds our knowledge base on the species and ultimately helps us conserve them.

You can attend a bird banding demonstration in your area to see how it works, and get up close to the birds as well. Audubon chapters often announce opportunities in their newsletters. Enjoy!