Re: banded black skimmers on Vacation Island
Re: banded black skimmers on Vacation Island
By {authorlink} – 7:27 am
Thanks Carl,
Yes, there have been multiple banding projects, some of which are continuing, involving skimmers breeding in California, including at Salton Sea, San Diego County sites, and Orange County sites. While identification to individual bird requires reading the unique number on the metal Service band, several of these projects have included using a unique color band sequence per cohort (for example, Service band on one leg but color band on opposite leg for young of a specific year at a specific colony site), and in recent years at South San Diego Bay we’ve added 3-digit alphanumeric color bands which are easier to read than the Service bands. Each of these should be able to be reported online to the USGS Bird Banding Lab. Otherwise, if you’d like to contact me or Dr. Kate Goodenough at University of Oklahoma off-group, we’d be happy to try to add your sightings to the re-sighting database and let you know what if any details can be gleaned from the band combinations in your photos. Such resightings help in research on longevity/survivorship, migration, seasonal distribution, site fidelity, etc.
Thanks again,
Robert Patton
San Diego, CA
Yes, there have been multiple banding projects, some of which are continuing, involving skimmers breeding in California, including at Salton Sea, San Diego County sites, and Orange County sites. While identification to individual bird requires reading the unique number on the metal Service band, several of these projects have included using a unique color band sequence per cohort (for example, Service band on one leg but color band on opposite leg for young of a specific year at a specific colony site), and in recent years at South San Diego Bay we’ve added 3-digit alphanumeric color bands which are easier to read than the Service bands. Each of these should be able to be reported online to the USGS Bird Banding Lab. Otherwise, if you’d like to contact me or Dr. Kate Goodenough at University of Oklahoma off-group, we’d be happy to try to add your sightings to the re-sighting database and let you know what if any details can be gleaned from the band combinations in your photos. Such resightings help in research on longevity/survivorship, migration, seasonal distribution, site fidelity, etc.
Thanks again,
Robert Patton
San Diego, CA