- Color-coded leg bands read from live bald eagles have shown that birds hatched in southwest Montana have established nest territories here in the Salmon Region.
- In May 2010, a color-coded metal band was recovered from a golden eagle killed in a vehicle collision near Dillon, Montana. The bird was banded in the Leadore area in 1992 as an adult, meaning the bird was at least 20 years old.
- In June and July 2009, a flock of 50 white pelicans took up residence in Deadwater Slough. One of the adult birds had a metal band on the left leg and a blue color-coded band on the right leg. No researchers in the Pacific Flyway claimed ownership of blue color bands, indicating the bird may have been marked in a different flyway. This report is still under investigation.
- One of the most interesting movements recorded was a 2009 recapture of a banded female black-chinned hummingbird near Pocatello that was originally banded in 2006 in Houma, Louisiana - a one-way distance of 1,600 miles.
From the Field: Bird Banding
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By Jim Lukens - Idaho Department of Fish and Game
Bird banding is a valuable and widely used technique for studying the movement, survival, and behavior of birds.
Individual identification of birds makes possible studies of dispersal and migration, behavior and social structure, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success, and population growth.
Banding programs primarily for waterfowl have identified distinct north-south flyways - or migration corridors - across the North American continent. Idaho lies in the Intermountain West Flyway - between the Pacific and Central Flyways. It is a busy corridor for waterfowl, shorebirds, and migratory songbirds.
In recent years, neck-banded swans have been sighted in some of the waterways of Lemhi and Custer County. In early 2010, a few neck-banded tundra swans were reported in the lower Pahsimeroi River during spring migration. Unique four-digit codes engraved in the blue plastic collars identified the swans as migrants from the Kotzebue Sound of northwest Alaska. Similar sightings have been made in other parts of the state as well.
By reporting these sightings, researchers learn more about the timing of tundra swan migrations and movements relative to their distant breeding areas in Alaska.
Late last fall, a few trumpeter swans with red color-coded neck bands were observed near Colson Creek and Cache Bar on the Salmon River and in the Challis Hot Springs vicinity. The birds were traced to a trumpeter swan restoration program in the Blackfoot River Valley of Montana. In reporting the sightings, their biologists learn migration routes, timing, and group composition during migration of this reintroduced population.
Idaho Fish and Game biologists have banded many ducks, snow geese, swans and other species in various parts of the state.
From bald eagles to hummingbirds, bird banding has yielded some fascinating details about our local birds: