Earliest banding age

bootjack farm · Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:37 pm

Ok, after 9 years I finally got my first pair...and a second...and a third. there is an ornithologist that works a "trap line" of Kestrel boxes that has followed my challenge over the years. I have 2 kestrel boxes she visits on my farm. She also is a bird bander, teaches wildlife bio at a university, and is well respected in the local birder community. She has yet to band a PM baby ...and boy does she want to.

My earliest due date is July 3. She will be in the area July 15 and would like to band some baby PM's. Too early? Any opinions?

Ed Pace · Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:57 pm

It seems to young to me, but I don't know much about banding of wild birds.
if she is a federal bander give her my name and I would be happy to have her band some of mine. My guess is they would have to be closer to fledging time but those who know more about banding can advise you better. Glad you finally got some birds after waiting 9 years. Ed

Curtis Reil · Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:28 am

bootjack farm wrote:Ok, after 9 years I finally got my first pair...and a second...and a third. there is an ornithologist that works a "trap line" of Kestrel boxes that has followed my challenge over the years. I have 2 kestrel boxes she visits on my farm. She also is a bird bander, teaches wildlife bio at a university, and is well respected in the local birder community. She has yet to band a PM baby ...and boy does she want to.

My earliest due date is July 3. She will be in the area July 15 and would like to band some baby PM's. Too early? Any opinions?

10-23 days old seems to ring a bell with what the fellows who band our colony want. Or need. Pretty sure that's the range they specified. I do know you'd be plenty fine banding 12 day old chicks.

Tim Mangan-Kansas · Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:15 am

As a general rule, I band nestlings between 12 and 22 days of age. If you have a nest of only one to three nestlings, the parents possibly have fed them very well and these nestlings will be a little more developed than a nest containing four or more nestlings. If I see this, I have banded nestlings as young as 10 days old. You can band older nestlings, up to the day they fledge, but you need to be careful so they don't jump out of the bucket when transporting them to the banding table. If I am banding older nestlings, I always cover the bucket with a towel to keep them from jumping/flying out of the bucket before getting them placed back in the nest. You would also want to plug the entrances for nestlings older than 22 days of age.

If your bander is not familiar with banding martins, he/she would need to research the size of band to use.