I arrived around 8:45 a.m. to conduct my observations at Brunswicktown State Historic Site, only to find that Jessica, another intern, was already there. I decided to stay for observations anyway, so that we could discuss the site and compare our observation data from previous visits. It worked out well to have both of us at the site at the same time, as she could focus on the PB color bands on one leg, while I focused on the other. This way we were able to confirm the color bands on one green bird that had been driving me crazy. It seemed like each time I saw the bird, the black and silver band was on a different leg….sometimes the silver band was on top of the black band and sometimes it was under the black band. As it turns out, the band colors were actually Dark Blue, Gray, Black, and Silver. I was happy to have that mystery solved!
what does each color stand for, or is there a location in this site that will give me that break down, i did not know that they were being banded, and now that i do I will start looking for the bands on the large number of birds that stay in and around my back yard all winter here is was palm beach, fl. I have both adult male, juv. male, and females by the multitude.
Kim
Hi Kim - We band each of our Painted Buntings with four bands - three color bands and one numbered aluminum ("silver") band. The solid color bands don't have a meaning on their own, but the unique combination and arrangement of the bands on a bird helps us identify individual birds (for example, only one bird is banded with the combination "pink over green, silver over orange"). When a banded bird is sighted, we can use the band combination to search through our field data for more information about that bird. In the summer of 2010, we began banding birds with a "split band" (one band consisting of two colors) based on where we banded the bird - pink/blue for South Carolina and red/yellow for North Carolina. This allows us to identify one fact about the bird (the state in which it was banded) without having to refer back to our data. Thanks for keeping an eye out for our banded birds! Keep in mind that the thousands of Painted Buntings we have banded are a mere fraction of the entire eastern population - so seeing a banded bird is a fairly rare (and exciting) event in Florida! -- Leah