Recapturing a bird we banded is not unusual at our station since a songbird can return to nest within 10 m of where it successfully nested last year. Thus we recapture 6-10% of the birds we band per year. These internal recaptures provide important data on stop-over rates, year-to-year survivorship, local breeding activity, and longevity records which suggest how long these natural wonders may live despite traveling thousands of kilometers over dangerous terrain.
Recapturing a bird banded by another researcher (‘foreign’ to our station) is exceptionally rare and only 0.1% of our recapture records are of birds that were banded by someone else. Even more uncommon is for one of our banded birds to be found outside our study area. Just 0.05% of our bands have been rediscovered elsewhere. Despite how few re-encounters exist, they provide invaluable data about potential migratory routes or even rates of travel as summarized below.
Found a banded bird? Make your contribution to avian research at: www.reportband.gov
Legend
 | LSLBO: Location of our research station. |
 | Band Recovery: Where a bird banded by the LSLBO was found by another researcher or a member of the public. |
 | Foreign Recapture: Where a bird was banded by another researcher before being recaptured by us. |
 | Zoom: Open a new tab with just the map (top-right corner of map). |
Map last updated: 6 October 2023
