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Stacy Jon Peterson HUMMINGBIRD BANDING
How's It Done? We always get asked, "How do you catch those speedy bullets?" It really is a good question, and one that is even more easily answered. I always preface my answer by reminding folks that handling ANY native, wild bird is regulated by federal and in most cases state laws. The "Migratory Bird Treaty Act" is just one of them. Banders, then, must posses valid federal permits from the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory (or Canadian Wildlife Service in Canada), as well as any state or provincial wildlife offices that require them. Ask to see our permits if you'd like. We'll be glad to show them to you.
If you visit our banding sites, you'll see us use a nectar feeder as bait inside a specially-designed trap with a drop door or curtain that can be lowered when a bird enters to feed at the feeder. There are other options, but we find that cage traps with a feeder inside work perfectly for our purposes and are extremely safe in the hands of a professional. My injury rate is absolutely zero since I began in 2000, covering many thousands of hummingbird captures. These traps also give us the opportunity to let birds go in and out of the trap unimpeded if we have enough birds to process; we just don't close the door until we need to. Generally our traps are made out of 1/2 inch x 1 inch welded cage wire with a moveable entry door of some sort. Sometimes we use a circular trap with a mesh curtain that can be raised and lowered with a pull-string (shown at right), or some combination of both. We decide which trap to use based on the environment and features of the habitat in which we're trapping. Some traps are too large to hang from the eves of a house, or from a "shepherd's hook" in someone's garden, for example. Like fishing, there are many tools in our tackle box that can help us safely catch a bird. However, the reality is that sometimes a bird will still outsmart us and we leave empty-handed. Such is life! Hummingbird banders use varied techniques for banding hummers and for dealing with their audiences. If the homeowner where I'm banding is agreeable, I like to encourage the public to attend. Education is a key component of our projects. If you visit my banding station, here's what you may expect to encounter.
After the band is applied, measurements are quickly and carefully taken. Typically we measure the length of the bill (culmen), wing, and tail. Depending on the species, we may take more measurements as needed for identification / verification purposes. You'll also see us blow back the feathers on the chest of the bird to look for fat deposits underneath. When hummingbirds are fully ready to migrate, they will nearly double their body weight with fat. Their skin is translucent, and this fat appears yellowish -- quite a stark contrast to the red breast muscle. Ask to see this feature when you visit our banding stations.
With a calm bird -- YOU may have the opportunity to release it. We do this by gently laying it in your open palm -- keep your palm flat at all times, and the bird will fly away when it wants to. Do you feel the quiver of the heartbeat and respirations on your palm? (A hummingbird's heart beats and it breathes, each, about 250 times per minutes at rest, resulting in quite a shimmy)! Hopefully the bird will return next year to be encountered again (part of our research looks at return rates to nesting and migratory sites) -- or better yet, perhaps it will be encountered by another researcher somewhere else on it's migratory route. Then we can add important data points to the information already collected at the initial banding table. And we have the hosts who allow us to band birds on their property to thank for that! Doesn't it hurt the birds? Hummingbird banders are keenly aware of the public perception that hummingbirds are porcelain waifs. Even though they are not, they are indeed fragile due to their size and high metabolisms. This is why humbanders must receive special training before being issued hummingbird authorization on their banding permits. Hummingbird banders also have many years worth of collective experience to draw from in determining which capture and banding techniques are best; the techniques employed always put the bird's safety first. As a result, we are confident that the risk of harming the bird is incredibly low. That's not to say that accidents or mortality can not happen. Any time one deals with living organisms, the risk of mortality is very real. Our training reduces the risk of accidental or direct human-caused death, but there's always a chance we could encounter a bird that for whatever reason is at the end of it's ropes. Perhaps it was previously injured or ill -- or perhaps it was an older bird at the end of it's natural life. Either way, the death of a bird at our banding station is a serious and sober event. Our banding permits allow us to salvage birds which may perish during the banding operations. These birds are then donated to local museums where they can be preserved and used by researchers for a long time. Does the information gleaned from bird banding justify the minute risks to the birds? We certainly believe so. So Why Do It? Researchers licensed by the federal government and in most cases the pertinent state authorities study hummingbirds simply because we need to know more about them. Sounds too simple, doesn't it? Naturalists and biologists (the two are often one in the same) believe that in order to be good stewards of our planet, we must understand the relationships animals have with ourselves and each other. Relatively little is known about hummingbirds, and studying them and their relationship with their environment allows us to see into that window. Furthermore, people generally want to conserve things they're interested in. If we can get people jazzed about these amazing creatures through an up close and personal, educational experience at our banding tables, then perhaps they will be more likely to consider conservation issues as something worthy of careful thought in the future. The planet can certainly benefit from more folks like that. It's certainly not curing cancer, but natural science projects (like the study of hummingbirds) still provide us with important answers that make our lives, and hopefully the lives of the animals with which we share this planet, a little more tolerable. And it's fascinating stuff, too! Banding birds helps researchers identify individual birds over time and space. In most cases, this is the ONLY way to determine the movements of individuals. Here are some questions being asked by hummingbird researchers across the United States
Don't the Bands Weight Them Down? In a nutshell: No. These bands are incredibly tiny. The outer diameter of each band (for Ruby-throated / Rufous / Black-chinned sized hummers) averages about 2.05 mm. They fit comfortably around the wire of a large diaper pin. Each band weighs approximately 6.6 mg (that's 0.0066 g, or 0.00023 ounces). In other words, it takes about 4,350 bands to weigh one ounce. You can use a first class stamp to mail a one-ounce letter! During it's "lean, mean, breeding machine" and winter times of year, the average hummingbird (Ruby-throated, Rufous, Black-chinned) will weigh approximately 3.5 grams. That's 0.1234 ounces, no kidding! In other words, it takes about eight hummingbirds (in summer) to weigh a single ounce at their skinniest! They can nearly double their body weight when they're ready to migrate in spring and fall. Want to put this into perspective? One penny (minted after 1982 when the composition changed) weighs 2.5 g (that's 0.088 ounces). So a hummingbird typically weighs less than two pennies! And Calliope Hummingbirds -- the smallest birds in North America -- weigh about as much as a single penny! A single hummingbird band (6.6 mg) on a typical hummingbird (3.5 g) is approximately 0.19% of the bird's body weight. Accepted standard bird banding criteria states that the "load" (bands, transmitters, etc.) that researchers place on wild, flying birds should not exceed 3-5% of the bird's body weight. Hummingbird bands, at 19/100ths of 1 percent, are FAR below this suggested standard. Hummingbirds captured again 5-8 years after they were initially banded are not uncommon -- the record age is just over 12 years (a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird originally banded in Colorado)! They tolerate these tiny bands very well. Want to relate the weight of a hummingbird band to human terms? OK -- it's the same as a 200 pound person putting two rolls of pennies (100 pennies total) in a backpack and carrying it around. Weight-wise, you probably wouldn't even know it was there. Many western belts (with metal buckle) weigh comparatively more than that! The wad of keys on the ring in your pocket probably weighs relatively more than a hummingbird band does (as a function of body weight of the carrier). What's Been Learned So Far? Some questions can only be answered through banding data. Here are just a few of the "natural history" tidbits that hummingbird researchers find interesting:
How Can You Help? If you live outside Idaho or Alaska, please report your birds through this link. [link to come -- for now, email Stacy at the email below]. We'll get the word to the appropriate banders for your region. Our hummingbird banding reseach team currently has active projects in southern Idaho and southcentral Alaska. If you live in southern or central Idaho and have an unusual hummingbird at your feeder (particularly one late in the fall), contact Stacy (email below). We'll send one of our Idaho humbanding team members out to investigate. If you live in southcentral Alaska, including the Kenai Peninsula, contact Stacy if you have any hummingbirds at all. At this point, our Alaska research is just getting started and we're looking for host study sites. We're particularly interested in documenting and studying late season hummingbirds, which could be Anna's or something more unusual. Thank you for your support! Email Stacy
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Banding hummingbirds is much more involved than
banding passerines and other larger birds. Their diminutive size requires
incredibly small, lightweight bands, and affixing those bands properly and
safely around the bird's leg is very important. Furthermore, hummingbird bands
come pre-printed on thin credit card-sized sheets of aluminum (100 bands per
card) instead of "pre-ringed" like other bird bands. The hummingbird bander,
then, must use special cutters and jigs to cut, file smooth, and form each of
these minute strips into appropriately sized rings. Each band segment (which is
precisely 5.6 mm long for most species of hummingbirds) contains one letter
followed by five numbers photo-engraved onto the metal (see
photo at left, which only shows three numbers). Making bands is a
great project during long winter evenings, but it takes a lot of dedication,
patience, good eye-hand coordination, and attention to fine detail. Hummingbird
banding, reasonably so, requires special training and additional authorization
from federal and in many cases, state authorities above and beyond a standard
bird banding permit. Perhaps that all explains why there are only about 200
licensed hummingbird banders in the United States and Canada. The Peterson
research team represents the only hummingbird banders living in Idaho (Terry
& Peggy Peterson, Carl Rudeen, and Greg Wardwell), and one of only two
living in the state of Alaska (yours truly)!
In other words -- don't try
this at home... 
After a bird is captured in the cage, a trained
assistant (or myself) gently catches the bird in-hand and places it in a mesh
bag for holding until its ready to be processed at the banding table. The delay
is kept short, of course. The bander then removes the bird from the bag, ages
and sexes it, and places an appropriately sized band around it's leg using a
specially-designed pair of banding pliers. The band spins freely and is
essentially a bracelet. The hummingbird will wear this band for the rest of its
life, which can be up to 12 years based on banding data, so we want to be sure
the band is perfectly made and fits properly.
Finally, we'll weigh the bird on a scale. If the
bird is calm enough I generally just lay the bird quietly on it's back on the
scale for a few seconds. Yep -- it works over 95% of the time (photo at right)! More "rowdy" hummingbirds sometimes
need to be restrained in a small bit of cloth "tared" on the scale (to zero
it). Rarely we will encounter young hummingbirds that are simply spastic. These
are often processed in an abbreviated manner in which some of the measurements,
including the weight, are not attempted. We do this for the comfort of the bird
as well as the audience! If any bird appears to need it, we allow it to drink
some nectar from a feeder near the table before being released (Yep, they'll
feed while we're holding them)!