You may have heard waterfowl hunters say after a hunt “I got some jewelry while hunting today” or “this one has jewelry”, that means they shot something that was banded. What does banded mean?
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 Geological Survey and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Their respective banding offices have similar functions and policies and use the same bands, reporting forms and data formats. Joint coordination of the program dates back to 1923.
9/30/17 I shot this Ross’s Goose while hunting in Saskatchewan. Guilty was my pick up dog for the birds I shot. I didn’t realize until after the hunt and I was gathering up my birds to haul them to the truck that I had shot a banded bird. Our hunting party has only recovered 5 banded birds in the 35 years that some of the hunters have been hunting in Saskatchewan. This was my first banded goose in the 7 years I have been hunting there. Once I got back to the farm house and uploaded my pictures I took out in the field this bird was the second bird I shot that morning. I was pretty excited to have gotten a banded bird. The bird appeared to be an adult goose in really nice condition so of course I had to take proper care of it so I could bring it home and have it mounted to be displayed in my house along with the other special birds that we have shot.
Once you recover a banded bird you need to report the band to the Bird Band Laboratory by clicking here. You enter the information that is asked and the number that is on the bird band.
Once entered you hit submit and it will generate a certificate telling you the history of the banded bird.
They also send you an email with the information that you provided and information on the band.
U.S Fish & Wildlife Services: Bird Banding
Environment and Climate Change Canada – Frequently Asked Questions: Bird Banding
This is a hunt that will be in my memories forever, a special hunt indeed with my Guilty girl.
that was interesting to read… and it is amazing what a huge distance is between the first and the last place of the berd…
That is pretty cool, but it is also sad to know the bird is dead.
Very cool. Congratulations!
What a great memory to have from your trip here this year. Loved reading about it.
Quite the memory and underscores the perilous travels if you’re a goose.
That is really interesting. I had no idea.
That is so interesting! How cool to be able to find out all that information about the bird.