Bird Banding

at River Bend Nature Center

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A few notes on Bird Banding at River Bend

What could be more exciting than seeing wild birds up close – maybe even right in your hand?! For two decades the River Bend bird banding team taught thousands of students and the public about birds and demonstrated the techniques of bird banding. Participants viewed the nets, saw the birds, helped attach leg bands, and even helped release the birds unharmed back to the wild.The station was supervised by River Bend's Chief Naturalist, John Blackmer, who departed River Bend in 2007. The operation is now disbanded.

Report a banded bird online!

The Banding Process...

About a dozen nearly invisible "mist" nets were deployed around the banding station under the watchful eye of our experienced net tenders. Captured birds were extracted from the nets unharmed and then brought to the banding station for further study and banding before being released. This is where students observed and assisted with the actual banding and releasing process. Data was gathered before students viewed the birds, helped apply the leg bands, and released each bird unharmed

Photographs by John Blackmer and the rest of the banding team
(click photos to enlarge)

The banding
station

Brianna bands
a bird

Brenda shows
a bird

John processes
a cuckoo

Student hold a
migration map

Kathy extracts
a bird from net

Jamie removes a
red-winged blackbird

Maureen removes a swamp sparrow

Troy works on a swampie

Sarah teaches a class with a bird

Sarah bands a goldfinch with a student

Students examine a mist net

A female goldfinch hangs in the "basket" of a net

Sara collects data on a black-and-white warbler

Johnny G. gives the students a closer look

Becky and a student band a bird

A band is applied to the leg of a female red-winged blackbird

A bird with its new band

Marion and a student prepare to release a bird

Two students release birds with Becky and Marion

An American goldfinch is released

Marion examines our first-ever scarlet tanager

Johnny G. talks to students at the banding station

Barney leads some students to the banding station

Harold leads some students to the banding station

Katie shows a redstart

Teresa admires a yellow warbler

Katie helps a student release a bird

Josh shares a cardinal with some students

Katie and Teresa show a pair of yellow warblers

A closer look at some of the species of birds
caught at the River Bend banding station

black-billed
cuckoo

blackpoll
warbler (m)

blackpoll
warbler (f)

indigo
bunting (m)

indigo
bunting (f)

Harris's
sparrow

red-bellied
woodpecker (m)

red-eyed
vireo

yellow-throated
vireo

white-crowned
sparrow

Tennessee
warblers (m-f)

Traill's
flycatcher*

house finch

clay-colored
sparrow

Be sure to click
thumbnails to
view larger photos!

rose-breasted grosbeak

red-bellied woodpecker

tree swallow

solitary sandpiper

scarlet tanager

magnolia warbler (male)

magnolia warbler (female)

golden-winged warbler (male)

Wilsons warbler

chestnut-sided warbler

orange-crowned warbler

American goldfinches
(male-female)

swamp sparrow

yellow-rumped "myrtle" warbler

cape may warbler

black-and-white warbler (male)

Canada warbler

northern waterthrush

yellow warblers (male-female)

yellow warbler (male)

American redstart (male)

American redstart (female)

blue-headed vireo

red-eyed vireo

warbling vireo

Traill's*/least flycatchers

blue-gray gnatcatcher

house wren

sedge wren

white-throated sparrow

song sparrow

Lincolns sparrow

Baltimore oriole (male)

Baltimore oriole (female)

orchard oriole

gray catbird

red-winged blackbird (male)

indigo bunting

downy woodpecker

northern cardinal (female)

cedar waxwing

brown thrasher

*while the name Traill's flycatcher is no longer used by birders, it is still an acceptable banding
designation when it can not be determined for certain whether the bird is a willow or alder flycatcher.

Banding Results

Includes all banding locations and dates
most caught at River Bend, some in neighboring communities
data prior to 1993 not electronically accessible
banders do not always use same bird names as general birders

Species	Banded	Recap	Total
American Goldfinch	661	53	715
American Redstart	44	1	45
American Robin	50	2	52
Baltimore Oriole	24	9	33
Black-and-White Warbler	30	2	32
Black-billed Cuckoo	2	0	2
Black-capped Chickadee	90	16	106
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	3	0	3
Brown-headed Cowbird	50	11	61
Blue-headed Vireo	9	0	9
Blue Jay	8	0	8
Blackpoll Warbler - m f	13	0	13
Brown Thrasher	6	2	8
Canada Warbler	5	0	5
Clay-colored Sparrow	15	1	16
Cedar Waxwing	5	0	5
Chipping Sparrow	44	1	45
Cape May Warbler	3	0	3
Common Grackle	29	0	29
Common Yellowthroat	630	101	731
Chestnut-sided Warbler	10	1	11
Downy Woodpecker	62	21	83
Eastern Bluebird	1	0	1
Eastern Kingbird	1	0	1
Eastern Phoebe	3	0	3
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	0	1
Field Sparrow	19	1	20
Fox Sparrow	1	0	1
Gray-cheeked Thrush	13	0	13
Gray Catbird	86	10	97
Golden-winged Warbler	3	0	3
Harris's Sparrow	3	0	3
Hairy Woodpecker	8	0	8
House Finch	1	0	1
House Wren	95	20	115
Indigo Bunting - m f	10	0	10
Least Flycatcher	73	0	73
Lincoln's Sparrow	167	21	188
Magnolia Warbler	16	1	17
Marsh Wren	10	0	10
Mourning Dove	2	0	2
Mourning Warbler	3	0	3
Myrtle Warbler	239	4	243
Nashville Warbler	37	1	38
Northern Cardinal	15	0	15
Northern Waterthrush	148	9	157
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	3	0	3
Orange-crowned Warbler	35	2	37
Orchard Oriole	1	0	1
Ovenbird	18	0	18
Pine Sisken	1	0	1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	17	1	18
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4	1	5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	19	1	20
Red-eyed Vireo	3	1	4
Red-winged Blackbird	72	9	81
Slate-colored Junco	8	0	8
Scarlet Tanager	1	0	1
Sedge Wren	2	0	2
Song Sparrow	85	26	111
Solitary Vireo	10	0	10
Swamp Sparrow	598	214	813
Swainson's Thrush	54	1	55
Tennessee Warbler	22	0	22
Tree Swallow	8	0	8
Traill's Flycatcher	12	0	12
Veery	1	0	1
Warbling Vireo	34	26	60
White-breasted Nuthatch	22	2	24
White-Crowned Sparrow	21	0	21
Wilson's Warbler	61	1	62
Wood Thrush	1	0	1
White-throated Sparrow	66	1	67
Yellow Palm Warbler	100	1	101
Yellow-shafted Flicker	5	0	5
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	0	1
Yellow Warbler	179	22	201
Totals (77 species)	4212	597	4812

All-Time Records for River Bend

(all band prefixes intentionally omitted)

Most captured species:

swamp sparrow: 813

common yellowthroat 731

American goldfinch 715

Number of species captured only once: 12

Bird species captured but not banded or counted in totals on this page:

solitary sandpiper (2), Virginia rail (1), sharp-shinned hawk (1)
ruby-throated hummingbirds (approx. 20)
northern cardinals (6) not banded when captured starting in 2005

Most captured individual birds:

(16) swamp sparrow #46091 banded then recaptured 4x in 2001, 3x in 2002, 3x in 2003, 0x in 2004, 2x in 2005, and 2x in 2006.
(12) swamp sparrow #46100 banded then recaptured 4x in 2001, 4x in 2002, 3x in 2003
(11) swamp sparrow #46006 banded then recaptured 4x in 1999, 3x in 2000, 3x in 2001
(10) common yellowthroat #85685 banded in 1998, recaptured 3x in 1999, recaptured 6x in 2000

Longest recaptures:

(7 yrs) American goldfinch #85840 was first banded in 1999 and recaptured in 2006.
(7 yrs) downy woodpecker #89305 first banded in 1994, recaptured in 1999, recaptured twice in 2000 (rebanded as #89936), recaptured in 2001
(6 yrs) warbling vireo #85929 was banded in 2000, and then recaptured in 2001, 2005, and 2006.
(6 yrs) American goldfinch #85996 was first banded in 2000 and recaptured in 2006.
(5 yrs) red-bellied woodpecker #89650 first banded in 2000, recaptured in 2005 (and still seeing him around in 2006)

Cool links on birds and banding

Bird Club of Rice County

Christmas Bird Count

The U.S. bird banding lab: www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/default.htm

A site for classrooms on animal migration: www.learner.org/jnorth/

A site for classrooms on hummingbirds: www.rubythroat.org/

Lots of cool bird stuff: www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos.htm

Another center's bird banding page: www.westol.com/~banding/

Bird Banding

A closer look at some of the species of birds caught at the River Bend banding station

Banding Results

All-Time Records for River Bend

Cool links on birds and banding

A closer look at some of the species of birds
caught at the River Bend banding station