Bird Band Bonanza

Survival, especially in winter, is one of the harder things to study for many animals, including raptors. HawkWatch International (HWI) researchers and many of our colleagues put color bands on thousands of adult and nestling raptors each year. The unique combinations of colors and alphanumeric codes make it possible to identify individual birds via cameras, scopes, binoculars, and sometimes even the naked eye—all without needing to capture and handle them again!

That’s why we’re inviting you to join HWI for a two-week scavenger hunt to document as many color-banded raptors as possible between January 27 and February 10th!

• To thank you for your efforts, we’re offering some awesome prizes for…
• The oldest bird spotted (HWI banded raptors only)
• The bird farthest away from it’s banding site (HWI banded raptors only)
• Individual with the most color bands submitted
• Top photograph of a color-banded raptor

Our team color-bands American Kestrels, Golden Eagles, Burrowing Owls, Cooper’s Hawks, and Red-tailed Hawks, but information on any other color-banded raptors from anywhere across the Americas is welcome and helpful. We’ll do our best to track down and share any information we have on reported birds—note this may take a little longer for birds HWI teams didn’t band.

We will hold a brief kick-off at the start of the event, walking you through why we color band birds, what kind of info we’re looking for, and how to submit your data.

Registration coming soon!