Bird Banding in the Rio Grande Valley

Did you know that the first record of a metal band attached to a bird’s leg was about 1595? I didn’t either. One of Henry the IV’s banded Peregrine Falcon’s was lost chasing a bustard and showed up 24 hours later in Malta, about 1350 miles away, averaging 56 miles per hour.

Here’s another. Duke Ferdinand put a silver band on a Grey Heron around 1669. That bird lived around 60 years. They know this because his grandson recovered the bird around 1728. Now that’s amazing!

Here are some cool stats from the USGS website:

Virtually all species are, or have been, banded. Currently, 1,200,000 birds are banded, and 85,000 recovered, each year. More than 63,000,000 birds have been banded since the beginning of the program, and 3,500,000 have been recovered and reported to the banding offices. Millions more have been recaptured or resighted by banders.

Enough of the history lesson, I spent some time reading up on bird banding because I had the opportunity to participate in my first banding event this past weekend and it really piqued my interest.

Even as a fairly new birder, I know what it feels like to spot a life bird or even your favorite bird and admire it from a distance with a pair of binos, scope or whatever the choice of optics may be. It’s a great feeling.

But, to be able to hold a wild bird in your hand and really examine it is something every birder should experience. Some of the birds that were banded this weekend include Black-crested Titmouse, Indigo Bunting, American Redstart, Great Kiskadee and Hooded Warbler. But the piece de resistance for me was The Green Jay. What a thrill!

By the way, if you’re wondering like me if “bustard” was a typo, it’s not. It’s a bird.

Go to the field Trips section of the website and check out the RGVBF’s Bird Banding Demo with biologist and nature educator Mark Conway. REGISTER NOW!