Birding for Banded Shorebirds: The Basics – Updated!

Updated Note from the Editor: Our previous issue (14 April) coincided with the increase in northbound shorebird migration in the Northern Hemisphere, and the information in our original article about banded shorebirds reflected that geographic emphasis. Subsequently, our partners in South America provided additional information about shorebird banding and data collection efforts in the Southern Hemisphere. Given the success of our original article, we have updated it with this information and a few clarifications, and are providing it anew to coincide with the southbound migration now occurring in the Northern Hemisphere. Many thanks (again) to Jeannine Parvin, Database Manager for BandedBirds.Org; Kevin Kalasz, Wildlife Biologist for Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife; and Danny Bystrak, Wildlife Biologist for U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab, as well as to Patricia González, Shorebird Researcher and Conservationist for Fundación Inalafquen and the Global Flyway Network, for providing the information for the updated article that follows.

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INTRODUCTION

The centuries-old practice of putting a small, inscribed, metal band on a migratory bird’s leg to mark and track its location and movements for research purposes still continues today. This method of marking largely relies on recapturing the bird in order to read and record the band data. More recently, plastic color bands and “flags” were developed in order to detect marked birds from a greater distance, allowing researchers to know by sight where a bird was first marked, without having to recapture it. In the mid-1980s, the Pan American Shorebird Program (PASP) developed a standard marking system, assigning one flag color to each country in the Western Hemisphere; two colors in some cases, such as orange over blue for Uruguay.  Within a country, local coordinators may use distinctive combinations and placement of colors to identify their projects’ birds. In more recent years, color flags with alphanumeric inscriptions have been employed, making it possible to identify individual birds, not only cohorts, by sight.

For a complete list of each country and its flag color(s), please see the PASP webpage on the Canadian Wildlife Service website.

Through established research programs, trained observers regularly conduct concentrated “resighting” efforts at known breeding, migratory, and wintering locations. However, a great and largely untapped source of data are resightings made by recreational birders, wildlife photographers, and even casual observers. Each report adds significantly to our collective understanding of the critical habitat needs, migratory routes, and the importance of various sites for different species of shorebirds.

BASIC TIPS

Many markers can be read from quite a distance away, depending on the resolution of your telescope, binoculars, or camera lens. However, with stealth and patience, you can also angle cautiously towards a flock in order to get within good resighting distance for your equipment. Tide and habitat conditions should be taken into consideration to optimize your viewing. For example, birds that are hungrily feeding are usually easier to approach. At coastal sites, you can observe shorebirds during a falling tide when food is first exposed; however, the benefit of a rising tide is that the water is slowly pushing the birds towards you. In general, markers can more readily be seen on birds that are spread-out and active instead of roosting in a tightly packed flock.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND RECORD

Notice the position of any bands or flags first in relation to the bird’s body (its left or right side), then relative to its “knee” joint (above or below it). For example, the diagram illustrates a bird with a lime-green flag as well as red, blue, and metal bands in the following positions:

Upper Left: red band
Lower Left: blue band 

Upper Right: lime-green flag with “AB” inscription
Lower Right: metal band

Sometimes a leg segment will have more than one color band on it. Pay attention to the order in which the colors are stacked—this is meaningful for associating a bird with a particular research effort.

The following levels of detail are most helpful to researchers:

Essential: Date of observation, location, species, band/flag color, and inscription on flag (if present and legible). Observers often use abbreviations; for example, the flag on the bird in the diagram would be recorded as “FL (AB)” for Flag that is the color Lime-green with the code AB. Be sure to include your name and email to allow for follow-up if there are questions about the report.            

Good: The above information, plus the time of sighting, and any combination of bands on all leg segments. These details are indispensable to some banding programs. The bird in the diagram would be recorded as:

Note: Any leg section on a flagged or banded bird that clearly does not have a marker should be recorded as “ – ” in the appropriate place on your grid or sequence. If a leg section is out of view, and therefore unknown or questionable, record it likewise as “?” or “Q”.

Better: The above information, plus tide stage, wind and weather conditions, how well the flag was seen, and a count or estimate of the number present of this species along with how many others may have had flags. Flock counts of other bird species are valuable, too. Written comments about habitat and flock activity are appreciated.

Best: The above information, plus a photo.

For more information about resighting banded birds, including practice photos, see the training module on the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Shorebird Project webpage.

WHOM TO TELL

Note: Shorebirds with an orange or blue marker
must be submitted to researchers in Argentina or Brazil, respectively (see below).

BandedBirds.Org

The web-based initiative www.bandedbirds.org was developed by partners in New Jersey and Delaware (USA) to incorporate shorebird sightings (or resightings) made by the public into a centralized database. To start, they entered nearly 72,000 shorebird banding records and 84,000 resighting records from established research programs. Since the website’s launch in May 2009, an additional 5,300 banding records and over 30,500 resighting records have been entered! Even more exciting has been the public response, with over 7,000 resightings reported in less than a year by recreational birders spanning the Western Hemisphere, from Canada to Chile.

To report a marked bird, go to www.bandedbirds.org. The website also has a “Map Your Resightings” feature, which allows you to track where else an individual bird has been seen. Many users say that the instant gratification of seeing the history of “their” bird inspires them to keep looking for other banded birds to report from their favorite locations.

ReportBand.Gov

Many of the marked shorebirds you see will have a metal band, either as its only marker or in combination with color bands/flags. Metal bands are each inscribed with a unique 9-digit code issued and tracked by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Lab, which administers the North American Bird Banding Program in partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS).

If you are able to see all, or even part, of the 9-digit code through your scope or camera lens, please report it at www.reportband.gov. The USGS Bird Banding Lab also issues the permits required for North American researchers to use color bands, and has included a section on the website for the public to report these as well.

For more information about bird banding in North America, visit the USGS Bird Banding Lab or CWS’s Bird Banding Office. For information or assistance in Spanish, please contact Jennifer McNicoll; from Mexico, call 1-800-327-2263.

Pan American Shorebird Program

As mentioned above, the Pan American Shorebird Program (PASP) coordinates the standard system for marking shorebirds with specific color flags and bands that correspond to each country in the Americas. The PASP can receive resighting information in various languages about shorebirds marked in any country. The banders receive your information and will send a personal response regarding the origin and history of “your” bird. The PASP is based at the Bird Banding Office of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). To register your sighting(s), please send an email to the banding office.

For more information about the Pan American Shorebird Program, please visit its webpage on the Canadian Wildlife Service website.

Brazil: National Banding Office

Shorebirds with a blue marker must be reported to the National Banding Office in Brazil.

Brazil is a pioneer in banding shorebirds, starting in 1984. Sightings of shorebirds that are marked with a blue flag should be reported to the National Banding Office at CEMAVE, under Brazil’s Ministry of Environment. 

For more information or to obtain a copy of the Banding Wild Birds Manual (in Portuguese), please visit the CEMAVE website.

Argentina: International Shorebird Banding Campaigns

Shorebirds with an orange marker must be reported by email to the Inalafquen Foundation.

In Argentina, banding efforts using orange flags have been underway since the 1990s. The International Shorebird Banding Campaigns are coordinated by Inalafquen Foundation of San Antonio Oeste (Argentina) in collaboration with the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (Canada) and the Museum of the City of Rio Grande (Argentina). To date, there have been over 30,000 sightings reported from along the migratory path of the birds this program’s team has banded. These reports are invaluable for estimating the survival of populations and for implementing conservation measures.

Please send your sightings of shorebirds with orange markers to the team via email.  

For more information about Vuelo Latitud 40 nature interpretation center in Las Grutas, Argentina, contact Silvana Sawicki at Fundación Inalafquen. 
 

A special note about Argentina: In 1995, when he was already at least 2 years old, the famous Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) “B-95” was marked with an orange flag at Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Thanks to the reported sightings (and re-sightings) to date, we know that he is now at least 17 years old! We also know that he especially depends on sites like the Mingan Archipelago in Quebec, Canada; the Delaware Bay in the United States; and Rio Grande, Argentina, for his survival.

For more information, updates, and photos of B-95, please see the following issues of WHSRNews: October 2008, July 2009, and December 2009.