This year is the 100th anniversary of the Bird Banding Laboratory, the federal agency responsible for overseeing all bird banding efforts in the United States and Canada. Here we’ll take a look at why banding is such a powerful tool for research while highlighting a few of our projects that put banding to use. With the fall banding season rapidly approaching, its a good time to reexamine what makes a bird in the hand so valuable.
The Sprague’s Pipit is a charismatic songbird of North American grasslands. If you’ve ever wandered the Northern Great Plains in summer, you’ve probably heard their sweet song, and maybe even seen their high-altitude aerial displays which can last for hours. One of many fast-declining grassland bird species, we’re urgently working to learn more about the life cycle of the Sprague’s Pipit so that its song can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.
The deserts and canyons of the American Southwest are home to an array of unusual and captivating wildlife. Among these amazing animals is a species that’s easy to overlook—but not because it’s ordinary. Quite the opposite! Literally pint-sized and weighing less than a golf ball, if you weren’t looking carefully, you could easily miss the world’s smallest owl.
Since 1970, less than a single lifetime, North America has lost more than one in four of its birds, according to a report in the world’s leading scientific journal. New findings just published in the journal Science confirm staggering losses among birds. Based on nearly 50 years of data, this research for the first time quantifies a long-developing but overlooked ecological crisis.
Join Bird Conservancy of the Rockies’ Community and Outreach Biologist Erin Youngberg as she shares news about avian conservation and research efforts at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. Erin will reveal some exciting trends from over 10 years of studying birds in this special landscape.
A visit to the banding station sparks wonder and curiosity. This hands-on learning opportunity engages the community in our work and inspires the next generation of nature stewards.
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is happily colluding with foreign insects in an effort to reduce the spread of Russian knapweed, a noxious weed that is spreading across western landscapes to the detriment of native flora and fauna.
Nineteen Mennonite students from Cuauhtémoc recently joined us in the field and experienced a day in the life of bird biologists. Representing a vital piece of the conservation puzzle in Chihuahua, their visit opens new pathways for awareness, conversation and collaboration to help grassland birds on Mexico’s wintering grounds.
2018 marks our eighth season banding Northern Saw-whet Owls in the western Dakotas and gathering useful data about the migratory habits of this charismatic species.
