December 17, 1987 - Bird Banding: Our GuidePage 8A/The Suffolk Times /December 17, 1987
Bird Banding; Our Guide
To the Winged World
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
My telephone rings often concern-
ing some phase of the natural world.
It could be "a huge bee nest right
over my back door" or "a big turtle
on the beach where I walk my dog"
or "a funny - looking bird caught in-
side my screened porch." All these
calls are sincere concerns by people
who want to know more about a par-
ticular plant, bird or animal.
One such call came this week from
a woman in East Quogue. Seems she
has a marsh nearby and noticed a big
brown bird at the water's edge. She
had never seen anything like it and
so investigated by going closer. The
bird appeared to be sick and not
overly active. The next day she went
back to check on her mysterious bird
and found it had died during the
night. She looked closer at the bird
and saw it had a band on its leg.
Knowing this had some significance,
she called me.
The description of the bird --
brown, rather big, and found in a
marsh -- sounded like one of the he-
rons or perhaps an American bittern.
I mentioned these but she said, "No,
it looked like a pelican." That seemed
pretty far - fetched for pelicans are
very rare this far north and particu-
larly in December.
Helms to the Rescue
Since the bird was in East Quogue
I called Carl Helms who runs the
Quogue Wildlife Refuge to see if he
Focus on
Nature
would check on it. I hesitated to call
for he has a busy schedule but his
organization is dedicated to helping
rehabilitated wildlife and he has a
personal interest in birds. I knew
he'd help.
By the way, if any of you have not
been to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge
you should get acquainted with it.
Not only does it have a good rep-
resentation of rehabilitated birds
and animals but there are miles of
hiking trails plus a magnificent lec-
ture hall and nature study area that
overlook the ice pond.
Sure enough, the next day Carl
called all excited. He'd found the lady
who called and to his amazement
what she showed him was what she
said it was -- a brown pelican! I
looked up pelicans in the authority
of bird sightings, "Birds of New York
State" by John Bull, and there have
been only nine sightings of this
southern visitor on Long Island and
never one as late as December. Quot-
ing from Bull's book "Dates range
from May 10 to Sept. 12 -- excep-
tional to Nov. 3."
This was a real find, particularly
since it had a band on it. The bird
will probably be sent to the Museum
of Natural History for study and de-
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BROWN PELICANS - -Only nine times have brown pelicans been seen
on Long Island. Yet there is always that rare occasion when one can be
spotted. Such was the case this week.
termination of death. The band will
be sent to the Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice and in about two or three
months we should have an acknow-
ledgement from them. It is there that
all the official bands are com-
puterized and records from all over
the world are cleared.
Bands are most important.
Through them we are able to deter-
mine how long birds live, where they
migrate, whether young birds stay
with their parents, whether birds
pair for life, and whether they return
to the same nesting site each year.
All this plus a lot more can be
gleaned from the vast records of
banded birds.
Some birds are trapped, banded
and then let go. Others are banded
at the nest site. Probably the great-
est number are banded this way be-
cause of ease of access and concentra-
tion of birds. This is a much easier
process than the elaborate trapping
equipment that is not only costly but
sometimes less efficient.
On young birds the band is large
enough so that, as the bird grows, its
leg will eventually fill the band.
These bands, or rings, as the old
world calls them, are made of light
aluminum and in no way inhibit the
bird. These bands naturally come in
various sizes, each bird requiring a
special size. On the band there is a
number along with the address
where you should send the informa-
tion. It's not necessary to send the
band itself, just the number. All
major countries have a banding prog-
ram and cooperate well in this field.
Ways to Trap and Band
There are many improvised traps
for catching birds. Many ideas go
back to when trapping was done com-
mercially and the birds sent to mar-
ket. Today we use many of these
techniques. Birds are baited with
grain, which eventually leads them
into a wire or fabric enclosure. In the
early fifties rocket netting became
popular and is being used more and
more where birds feed. When a suffi-
cient number of birds is within an
area, the rockets are shot off, taking
the net over the feed area and captur-
ing the flock.
In some cases this method has pro-
duced a 15 percent return in bands,
some birds being banded a fifth and
sixth' time. Here on Long Island
banding is done primarily during
migration time when small birds fol-
low the barrier beaches along our
South Shore. Here mist nets are
strung up and migrating birds fly
into the fine silk mesh attached to
poles at appropriate flyways. Only
certain dedicated, licensed banders
can operate these banding stations.
The late Roy Wilcox of Speonk was
one of our best -known bird banders.
So when you see a dead bird on the
beach or along the roadside, take
time to see if it has a band. If so, send
the number to the address found on
the bated. The only confusion I can
think of with reference to banded
birds is when someone reports a pi-
geon with a band on its leg. In this
case it's usually a racing pigeon or a
homing pigeon which an individual
has banded for personal identifica-
tion. It has nothing to do with the
banding we spoke of. Should you
send in a band to the Fish and
Wildlife Service from a dead bird you
will receive a certificate of apprecia-
tion and a printout telling you where
and when the bird was banded, who
banded it, the kind of bird it was, and
its sex. You see, you, too, can become
involved in the world of bird band-
ing.
Photography by
Judy Ahrens
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