CBBS Bird Banding
Blackpoll Warblers
IBS (L – male, R- female)
(photo by Shonna McLeod)
Bird banding is an integral aid to the study and protection of wild birds. It is typically facilitated by using a fine net (known as a mist net). Birds that fly into the mist net are gently removed and a permanent aluminum or alternate light-weight band is placed around the lower leg. Often the birds are measured, weighed, sexed and aged before release back into the wild.
Wood Thrush
Las Caletas, Costa Rica
(Photo by Cyndi Smith)
When a banded bird is recovered, the number and information on the band is used
to trace migratory patterns and other vital data. This information is collated
and made available to the banding and scientific communities. The data is
invaluable to many scientific studies, including Global Warming and Pollution
research. The Calgary Bird Banding Society (CBBS) makes much of this research
available in the form of the ATR (Annual Technical Report).
Cooper's Hawk (imm)
Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
(Photo by Barry Trakalo)
The primary project of the CBBS is monitoring of migratory birds at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (IBS), a federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary. IBS has long been known as an important migration site for Neotropical migrants. Located within 80-km of the Rocky Mountains, the site is an integral component of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network.
Double-toothed Kite
Las Caletas, Costa Rica
(Photo by Cyndi Smith)
IBS is also the location of a MAPS site operated by CBBS since 1992. A pilot MAPS project was undertaken at Dinosaur Provincial Park in 2006. Fall migration monitoring of Northern Saw-whet Owls has been conducted since 2004 at a location in the foothills southwest of Calgary. Beginning in 2004, the CBBS initiated spring migration monitoring of Neotropical migratory birds from a site on the Osa Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Most recently, we conducted an initiative based on the Monitereo de Sobrevivercia Invernal (MoSI) program of the Institute for Bird Populations at that same site.
NEW! 2008 Annual Technical Report (ATR)
The 2008 ATR (
right click to download) details regional and international research conducted by CBBS. The ATR presents results from all CBBS projects active during the current year and includes research and trend analysis.
