Concept
Bird ringing (UK) or bird banding (US) is the attachment of a small, individually numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification. This helps in keeping track of the movements of the bird and its life history. It is common to take measurements and examine conditions of feather molt, subcutaneous fat, age indications and sex during capture for ringing. The subsequent recapture or recovery of the bird can provide information on migration, longevity, mortality, population, territoriality, feeding behavior, and other aspects that are studied by ornithologists. Other methods of marking birds may also be used to allow for field based identification that does not require capture. The earliest recorded attempts to mark birds were made by Roman soldiers. For instance during the Punic Wars in 218 BC a crow was released by a besieged garrison (which suggests that this was an established practice). Quintus Fabius Pictor used a thread on the bird's leg to send a message back. Or in another case in history a knight interested in chariot races during the time of Pliny (AD 1) took crows to Volterra, away and released the crows with information on the race winners. Falconers in the Middle Ages fit plates on their falcons with seals of their owners. In England from around 1560 or so, swans were marked with a swan mark, a nick on the bill. Storks injured by arrows (termed as pfeilstorch in German) traceable to African tribes were found in Germany in 1822 and constituted some of the earliest evidence of long-distance migration in European birds. In North America John James Audubon and Ernest Thompson Seton were pioneers although their method of marking birds was different from modern ringing. To determine if the same birds returned to his farm, Audubon tied silver threads onto the legs of young eastern phoebes in 1805 (although the veracity of the dates has been questioned), while Seton marked snow buntings in Manitoba with ink in 1882.
