CHICAGO -- With spring migration picking up and warmer days ahead, researchers are preparing for another season of bird banding — an effort to understand how local birds are faring and future challenges they may face.
Bird banding generally involves attaching a numbered, lightweight aluminum band to a bird’s leg. The process, which requires a federal permit, allows researchers to track birds as they’re subsequently spotted. It can lead to data that would otherwise be difficult to come by: how long birds are living, where they’re coming from or returning to, and even how they’re responding to climate change.
“I’ve never seen a person in a picture holding a bird at a banding station not smiling,” said Antonio Celis-Murillo, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory.
