Bird Banding

Location: Waterfront, near the base of Dan Leckie Way

Date photo taken: 30 April 2015

Toronto, with its waterfront and many naturalized park spaces, provides lots of great habitat for many species of birds. If you're the type to take notice of birds, you've probably also noticed that sometimes they can be seen sporting coloured and numbered bands on their legs, wings, or as in this picture, their necks. The North American Bird Banding Program has banded over 60 million birds since it started back in 1904. Information on banded birds helps scientists learn more about them, including their movement and behaviour. Did you realize that you can help with this work? Ordinary citizens are encouraged to record sightings of birds wearing tags and report them to the program. You'll be asked for information such as the colour and placement of the band, the number on the band, and where and when you saw the bird. In return, you will be sent a Certificate of Appreciation which will provide you with some information about the bird you saw. In this case, the banded goose is a female, about a year old, and it had been banded in the Toronto area just over a week before this picture was taken. Observing and reporting bird bands would make a great summer science project for kids of all ages, and it would help the Canadian Wildlife Service better understand the birds it tags.