And it only took 2 hours including the letters and pictures I had to send to the presidents of 2 pigeon racing clubs, one of which was from NJ! Capitol City Racers. The other fella was local. I didn't print out the certificates but the oldest one was from a Mallard male banded in 1999 in Crawford County PA!
Ed
I have enjoyed your reports on finding bird bands for a couple of years now, and I know you have quite a few. Have you found any really long distance travelers ( I guess Pa to Ohio is a pretty good trip) ; say from other regions in the country? I can see how bands from wild birds might turn up anywhere, but I'm wondering about the pigeons---I didn't think they rested in woods on their returns. Shot by hunters or died in flight? Any thoughts? Yet to find my first band.
I have only found a couple of bird bands and I am always fascinated to hear what type of bird it was on and where it was banded. It is no ring return but some of them are helping out people studying bird behavior so cudos to you Ed !
HH
Pat
(11-21-2017 12:29 PM)shadeseeker Wrote: [ -> ]I have enjoyed your reports on finding bird bands for a couple of years now, and I know you have quite a few. Have you found any really long distance travelers ( I guess Pa to Ohio is a pretty good trip) ; say from other regions in the country? I can see how bands from wild birds might turn up anywhere, but I'm wondering about the pigeons---I didn't think they rested in woods on their returns. Shot by hunters or died in flight? Any thoughts? Yet to find my first band.
I don't have a clue as to why I find those pigeon bands in the woods. Falcons would be a good guess though because we have a lot of them here and they love pigeons! That's how Cleveland got rid of the pigeon problem downtown years ago. They let the Metroparks set up Falcon perches on a number of the buildings. When I worked on the tall buildings downtown we used to watch the Falcons dive bomb the pigeons while they were in flight and there would be a small "Poof" of feathers and no more pigeon. It was really something to see. Here's one watching our bird feeder a few winters ago!
Ed
(11-21-2017 05:20 PM)Digsit Wrote: [ -> ]I have only found a couple of bird bands and I am always fascinated to hear what type of bird it was on and where it was banded. It is no ring return but some of them are helping out people studying bird behavior so cudos to you Ed !
HH
Pat
Thanks Pat! Most of the bands I found were banded pretty near me at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. They're connected to the birding group somehow and are always banding birds.