SAVING BIRDS WITH A RING BAND AND A PRAYER

SAVING BIRDS WITH A RING BAND AND A PRAYER

"In the years since scientific banding began in North America, more than 60 million birds, representing virtually all the hundereds of species found on the continent, have been banded. Every year, another 1.2 million birds are banded. In turn, more than 3.3 million birds are found and reported over the years: the hunters who shoot ducks, geese, and find that a hundred songbirds has flown into their picture window. This year, at least 75 percent of band recovery reports are coming in by phone. On the phone we ask specific questions about how, when, and where the banded birds were found - an information most important to the banders. Increasingly, banders are being called on to provide had data that conservationists and wildlife managers need to make informed decisions about how to protect migratory birds. Besides leg bands, they are employing other technique: colored bands and markers for visual tracking, sophisticated transmitters that beam the bird's precise location from anywhere in the world via satellite; and laboratory breakthrough such as DNA sampling and the study of stable chemical isotopes in a bird's feathers, which may help identify regional population.

"One of the last knots I pull from the net that day is already banded, and when I show the bird to Minton, he is stunned. "My God!, that's a Brazilian bird from 15 years ago!" he says, recognizing the serial number that was used in that country by pioneering shorebird researchers. But at that time I have no thoughts for research or science. The red knot, no bigger than a robin, sits quietly in my hand, staring at me with dark eyes. I try to grasp the fact that each year, for perhaps 15 years, this tiny creature has flown nearly 18,000 miles from the most northerly land in Canada to the most southerly point - South America and back again - as much as 270,000 miles since it was last held by a human, a distance from here to the moon and partway home. All I can do is shake my head with mingled awe and respect for the travelers that stitch together this wide world - and say a silent prayer that they will still grace the skies long after we're gone."
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Scott Wiedensaul's latest book is "Living  On the Wind: Across the Hemisphere and Migrating Birds." Smithsonia, September 1999, pp44-54.