Developed at the turn of the 20th century, bird banding uses metal or colored leg bands or colored wing tags marked with a unique number or alpha-code as a method for documenting re-encounters of individual birds. Bands are affordable, dependable and extremely lightweight—the smallest weigh only 0.001 gram—and can be used on all sizes and species of birds, from hummingbirds to eagles. In North America, the US Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab, established in 1920 by visionary scientists, is a cornerstone for avian conservation and research. In the last 100 years, approximately 77 million bands have been deployed with over 5 million re-encounters reported. This research has led to some amazing insights about birds and their lives. For example, it tells us that the oldest-known living banded bird is a 70-year-old Laysan Albatross named Wisdom who hatched her 39th chick last year. With impressive records like these, there is indeed a lot of wisdom captured in this extensive dataset.

Dr. Antonio Celis-Murillo is the Chief of the Bird Banding Lab, located at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center in Maryland. Throughout his career he has studied avian ecology and behavior with the overarching goal of improving conservation efforts. 'Birds are good indicators of environmental health because they are sensitive to habitat change. Changes in bird populations can signal environmental issues, such as impacts from extreme weather or human development, which could affect other parts of the ecosystem,' he says..."