Each fall, roughly from mid-August to late November, I band birds at Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve. Reflecting the transient nature of migratory passage, most birds are never recaptured, so it is incumbent to gather as much pertinent data (demographic, morphological, condition) as possible from each banded individual. However, some birds clearly "stop-over" at the preserve, as 12.9% of the birds I band are captured later in the season. Far less common are returning birds (invariably local breeders or winter residents - never active migrants), with 1.6% captured during a subsequent year. Even rarer are foreign recoveries (i.e. birds banded at the preserve but subsequently encountered at another locality). Only 0.1% of our banded birds fall into this category. Consequently, if ascertaining migration paths were our primary goal, then more efficient methods should probably be utilized.
Nevertheless, determining the fate of such birds remains fascinating (at least to me). Most of the foreign recoveries have been found dead within 20 miles of the banding station, but I was recently notified that a Red-eyed Vireo banded last September was recovered near Harrogate, TN. Although this bird was also found dead, it set a new recovery distance record for the station. It had covered 483 miles in a SSE direction in less than 18 days.
- Brian Johnson
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