Banded bird
This past Monday I posted about my day at Island Beach State Park and one of my observations was an American oystercatcher sporting a leg band. I reported the encounter to the Bird Banding Laboratory at the U. S. Geological Survey. I received an email certificate providing me with interesting information about this individual bird. He (I should say it since the bird’s sex was not identified) is at least 13 years old; its hatch date came back as 2009 or earlier. It was banded locally in Ocean County in May of 2011. American oyster catcher with a black-on-gold colored leg band. © S. Weiss Online certificate for American oystercatcher with leg band, KU. I personally find this information interesting, and I think that the bander does too. Whenever possible I try to get a photograph of a bird and its band when I see one and report the encounter online. During late summer and early fall I commonly find banded oystercatchers and roya...