Banding at Odessa Campground

Two Klamath Bird Observatory interns and Executive Director John Alexander explains the process and importance for bird banding. The Odessa Campground has been used as a monitoring site since 1997 and is known to be a hotspot for rare bird encounters. Birds are good indicator species which helps determine the quality of habitat. The banders explain one piece of information they can gather through banding is, return rate. If an individual is returning to the same location to breed this indicates quality of breeding grounds. Approximately 40% of the birds captured at Odessa Campground have already been banded. Not too often, about one in every 10,000, a bird is captured that was banding in another location. Anyone who finds a bird with a band on it is encouraged to report it to USGS at www.reportband.gov. To read the full article in Herald and News click here.