| People have been banding (or
ringing, as it is called in Europe) birds for centuries. The
first record of a metal band attached to a bird's leg was about
1595 when one of Henry IV's banded Peregrine Falcons was lost
in pursuit of a bustard (another bird) in France. It showed
up 24 hours later in Malta, about 1350 miles away, averaging
56 miles an hour!
Bird banding data is useful in research and management projects.
Individual identification of birds allows studies of dispersal
and migration, behavior and social structure, life span and
survival rate, reproductive success, and population growth.
When banded birds are captured, released alive, and reported
from somewhere else we can reconstruct the movements of the
individual bird.
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Learn
more about the banding process in 