Bird Banding

Bird-banding contributes vital knowledge of habitat use. More than 1,000 birds were banded at The Heard this year – bringing to more than 25,000 the number banded since the station’s establishment in 1978 and providing information to evaluate habitat breeding quality. The station shares data with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) and participates in The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) “MAPS” program (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) by contributing our data to an international effort. MAPS measures reproduction on breeding grounds and combines data from the U.S., Canada and Mexico so scientists can determine global populations of most songbird species.

The Birdhouse Network:

Trained volunteers conduct daily maintenance and monitoring of nesting boxes. Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, Prothonotary Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Carolina Wren, Purple Martin, Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse nest regularly in Heard nest boxes. This year the first Eastern Screech Owls nested here. The Heard also participates in Cornell University’s The Birdhouse Network, which provides a website showing cavity-nesting birds while they raise their young, including Heard Prothonotary Warbler and Wood Duck nest boxes.

Results of the Bird Banding Project
Box-babies Banded at the Heard

Get Involved: