Bird leg bands

[HAJ]

I recently found a bird leg band, got curious, found a place on the internet to report it, and found out that it was a songbird banded in 1983. A week or so later, I was contacted by the guy that banded the bird. He was excited about it and looking for more information. In talking to him, I've gotten interested in bird bands, and am looking for more information to pass along. I searched on here and saw that there are a lot of threads talking about bird bands, so I know they get found with some frequency. My questions, then, for those willing to share:

How many bird bands have you found? (just with a metal detector, not hunting)
What kind of bands (songbird, pigeon, waterfowl, etc.)?
What kind of location (field, woods, marsh, etc.)?
Did you report the numbers to some place like the USGS-BBL (https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory)? Why or why not?

Thanks!

 

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[Seahound]

I found two weird bands with numbers on. Not sure what they are.

 

[Lenrac2]

We found a pigeon band.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I've found two bird bands so far, I never thought about researching them though.

Thanks for your post,
Dave

 

[HAJ]

I've found two bird bands so far, I never thought about researching them though.

Thanks for your post,
Dave

I'd encourage you to look and see about reporting them. Won't take anything from you (other then a bit of time- took about 5 minutes of my time, for example), and you'd be helping out someone else. Win/win in my book.

 

[Lenrac2]

We reported the pigeon band. It was a racing pigeon that they don't track but gave us the info we needed to date it and place it to a possible loft. I had no idea racing pigeons was still a thing.

 

[brianc053]

Great post, thanks for bringing this up!

I've found two, both last year:

1. a 1972 racing pigeon band. The band had "NPA '72" on it which was pretty clear, but I confirmed the date by writing to the National Pigeon Association (yes that's a thing). The secretary of the organization responded and confirmed it.
I posted about it last January: https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/small-button-and-a-bird-band.647996/#post-6671439

2. A 2000 Snow Goose band. This one I registered with the USGS and they sent me this neat certificate:

 

[VaGent]

I have one that still has the bird's leg bone in it. Never knew anything other than racing pigeons were banded and never knew you could report them.

 

[HAJ]

I have one that still has the bird's leg bone in it. Never knew anything other than racing pigeons were banded and never knew you could report them.

Yes, I saw your band with the leg bone when searching...very neat!

The USGS-BBL has been banding birds since 1920, with over 77 million bands recorded. There are a lot more out there to find.

 

[HAJ]

Great post, thanks for bringing this up!

I've found two, both last year:

1. a 1972 racing pigeon band. The band had "NPA '72" on it which was pretty clear, but I confirmed the date by writing to the National Pigeon Association (yes that's a thing). The secretary of the organization responded and confirmed it.
I posted about it last January: https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/small-button-and-a-bird-band.647996/#post-6671439

2. A 2000 Snow Goose band. This one I registered with the USGS and they sent me this neat certificate:

View attachment 2013416

Thanks for sharing. I noticed the date on the snow goose- 28 Dec 2021- I found my scarlet tanager band on the 29th

 

[Riverbum]

I found one last tuesday....it was laying on the ground underneath a spot where a Bald Eagle likes to sit partially over the river around here......probably had a bird for breakfast but now I realize why the band is there

 

[crashbandicoot]

I found one last tuesday....it was laying on the ground underneath a spot where a Bald Eagle likes to sit partially over the river around here......probably had a bird for breakfast but now I realize why the band is there

A little known fact is that Bald Eagles are great carrion eaters.That,s why the switch to iron shot for waterfowl hunting.Eagles would eat ducks that could not be retrieved for whatever reason and ingest the lead shot in the ducks,killing them.You,re right your band was probably from a bird the eagle ate.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Great post, thanks for bringing this up!

I've found two, both last year:

1. a 1972 racing pigeon band. The band had "NPA '72" on it which was pretty clear, but I confirmed the date by writing to the National Pigeon Association (yes that's a thing). The secretary of the organization responded and confirmed it.
I posted about it last January: https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/small-button-and-a-bird-band.647996/#post-6671439

2. A 2000 Snow Goose band. This one I registered with the USGS and they sent me this neat certificate:

View attachment 2013416

That is so cool Brian, I may just have to look into the bands I found years ago.

 

[ole miss rebel]

I found one last tuesday....it was laying on the ground underneath a spot where a Bald Eagle likes to sit partially over the river around here......probably had a bird for breakfast but now I realize why the band is there

Would be interesting to find out what the Eagle had for breakfast, eh.

 

[Richard Guy]

I found a sick pigeon with a numbered band on it's leg. I tried saving the birds life, but it died. Sadly, I removed the band and inside the band was a message written on a rubber inner that read, ... F**k you. It was a sad moment😢

 

[Trezurehunter]

I have found one pigeon and 1 duck band. Both were found in parks and yes they were reported. I also received certificates like Brianco53's with the birds information. They are a neat find.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Would be interesting to find out what the Eagle had for breakfast, eh.

Shoot that info to the appropriate agency and likely you can find out!

 

[crashbandicoot]

I found a sick pigeon with a numbered band on it's leg. I tried saving the birds life, but it died. Sadly, I removed the band and inside the band was a message written on a rubber inner that read, ... F**k you. It was a sad moment😢

Was there any info on the outside? That,s a curious message to put on a pigeon band.And yes,sad too.Only thing I can think of was that was a homing pigeon and the sender was sending a message to someone he was in disagreement with.Or maybe a message for a hunter or someone else who might have killed it for whatever reason. Got my imagination going.

 

[HAJ]

I found a sick pigeon with a numbered band on it's leg. I tried saving the birds life, but it died. Sadly, I removed the band and inside the band was a message written on a rubber inner that read, ... F**k you. It was a sad moment😢

That is a pretty odd thing to find.

 

[Richard Guy]

I was very young when this happened, It was the first time I saw/read the word f**k. I cried.