Banded Junco

[Todd Boland]

Is anyone aware of Juncos being banded in the St. John's area? I have a feeder at the Botanical Garden and there is a Junco here that has a orange band on its right leg. I have no bins at work so could not see a number.

Todd B.

[brucema...@gmail.com]

About 30 years ago(!) I was part of a St. John's backyard feeder junco banding project where we put a regular numbered metal band on one leg and a colour unmarked plastic band on the other leg. We did this for two years using Blue in year one, Orange in year two. No way it could be one of those birds could it????

Only a small percentage of the colour marked junco returned to the feeder in the following year and hardly any returns seen on the third year after. None beyond that.

B Mactavish

[prn...@gmail.com]

I've a memory of this as well. David Lemon, formerly of SFA, then Jacques-Whitford was banding (as well?). He might be assoc. with ASL Environmental in BC, or not. I haven't seen him in a long time.

I will ask the Land bird folks if we can query the Bird Banding Office (BBO) for generic DEJU bandings (esp. if colour-marking as well) within NL, Maritimes.

Per web site 'AnAge', http://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Junco_hyemalis, longevity record for Junco hyemalis (is) 11.3 years


Pierre

[Howard Clase]

On Thursday, 11 January 2018 10:07:43 UTC-3:30, Todd Boland wrote:
> Is anyone aware of Juncos being banded in the St. John's area? I have a feeder at the Botanical Garden and there is a Junco here that has a orange band on its right leg. I have no bins at work so could not see a number.
>
> Todd B.

Some years ago when we lived off Torbay Rd in the woods we had a Junco visiting our feeder which had a small tuft of feathers sticking out of the top of his head. This one came back for at least 4 winters, possibly more.

[Bill Montevecchi]

On Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 10:07:43 AM UTC-3:30, Todd Boland wrote:
> Is anyone aware of Juncos being banded in the St. John's area? I have a feeder at the Botanical Garden and there is a Junco here that has a orange band on its right leg. I have no bins at work so could not see a number.
>
> Todd B.

In the 1980s, Dave Lemon and I banded about 10 juncos with one of my animal behavior classes in Portugal Cove. The birds were philopatric and returned the next winter. Only 1 or 2 showed up the 3rd winter then that was it which seemed to fit with the species short life span.

[ILJones]

On Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 10:07:43 AM UTC-3:30, Todd Boland wrote:

> here is a Junco here that has a orange band on its right leg.

I'm wondering whether the bird had a metal (aluminum) band - in permitted bird banding there is always an numbered aluminum Fish and Wildlife band present. A bird with a single colour band only is not expected if this is an above board study.

[darroch....@gmail.com]

We've banded quite a few Juncos in western Newfoundland through various projects I've been involved with, including 395 at Main River from 2004-2006 and maybe another 30-50 more on other projects since then, but as far as I know none were fitted with colour bands.

If you see it again one thing to look for would be whether it is carrying any sort of tracking tag, as people often mark tagged birds with a single colour band to make it easier to target them for recapture when they return to their breeding territory the following year. This would probably be a small backpack riding on the rump with loops under the legs, and they're very small and usually preened under the contour feathers so hard to notice (even when you have the bird in your hand!). However you can often see a bump on the rump where they are as well as a small black antenna or stubby light sensor sticking out.

Darroch

[Todd Boland]

Now there is another banded junxis at our feeder....2 yellow bands on the right leg and red and silver band on the right.

[lancy cheng]

There were some passerine banded at Manuals river 1-2 years ago. Laura King might be involved.

[drwil...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 10:07:43 AM UTC-3:30, Todd Boland wrote:

> Is anyone aware of Juncos being banded in the St. John's area? I have a feeder at the Botanical Garden and there is a Junco here that has a orange band on its right leg. I have no bins at work so could not see a number.
>
> Todd B.

Hi Everyone,

I began colour-banding juncos last summer in Pippy Park with my students at MUN. A few were banded just across the street from the Botanical Gardens, and included the colours you mentioned. So far, we've banded only 14 juncos and 1 black-capped chickadee, but we plan to band many more this winter. Last year, we followed the convention of placing the aluminum Canadian Wildlife Service band on the bird's top left, a plastic colour band on the bottom left, and two colour bands on the bird's right leg. Beginning in 2018, that convention will change so that the aluminum band is on the right leg. The colours we use include purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and white. The birds are part of a study on how anthropogenic noise, such as that generated by the outer ring road, affect vocal communication in birds. They are also part of a longer-term study focused on animal communication more generally. I'm thrilled to hear that the marked birds are showing up at feeders. If you have any more sightings, I'm always keen to hear about them (dwi...@mun.ca).

Dave Wilson

[Todd Boland]

I was wondering if it was the university doing the banding for animal behaviour studies...mystery solved!

[Bhill]

Thanks for the info, David. Now that we know and with up to 50 Juncos coming into the yard at a time I must study them a little more. Normally I just scan for a count and to see if anything is a non-Junco so must pay more attention to those legs! Brian, Mt. Pearl