RRBO's 10,000th bird

RRBO bands 10,000th bird

On 28 Sep 1998, a hatching-year male Rusty Blackbird became the 10,000th bird banded by the Rouge River Bird Observatory on the campus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Remarkably, this species had never before been banded on campus!

Rusty Blackbird (left) and Julie
Craves

RRBO began in the fall of 1992 banding just a few hours a week. Coverage has grown steadily, and we now band for at least 4 hours per day, at least 5 days a week during spring and fall migration. Limited banding is done during the summer and winter months. We are the only major bird observatory concentrating on the importance of urban natural areas to migratory birds, and our research focus is on the stopover ecology of migrant birds, particularly Neotropical migrants.

RRBO Facts

Since 1992...

RRBO has banded 109 species, including Michigan's first record of Virginia's Warbler
Nearly 1,400 Gray Catbirds have been banded, our most numerous species (here's a list of the most commonly banded birds)
Twelve of our birds have been recovered elsewhere, 7 out--of-state. Most exciting was a Yellow-rumped Warbler we banded in May 1997 that was captured and released by another bander in Tallahassee, FL in March 1998 (here's a complete list of banding recoveries)
65 long-distance migrants have been recaptured in subsequent years, including:

54 Gray Catbirds (winter in extreme southern U.S. through central Panama, Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles)
5 Wood Thrush (winter in eastern Mexico through northwest Columbia)
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (winter central Mexico through northern S. America)
2 Red-eyed Vireos (winter western Amazonia)

Special Thanks

RRBO operates as a donor-funded research program. This milestone could not have been reached without generosity of hundreds of people who have believed in our mission.

Nor could we have gotten to this point without the help of nearly 80 volunteers who tolerated early mornings, mosquitoes, poison ivy, and berry-stained clothes (and hands, and pants, and...) to assist with this important project. We would like to thank the following dedicated volunteers, without whom RRBO would not be possible:

Terry Angevine, Dea Armstrong, Karen Babicz, Lisa Bagchi, Cheryl Balint, Becky Barrett, Dave Bedell, Jan Blaine, Jeff Boettner, Mary Bohling, Chris Bommarito, Nancy Brown, Darlene Canales, Allen Chartier, Mike Clipper, Paul Cypher, Andy Dettling, Tom Dietsch, Lynette Drobyshewski, Carolyn Duda, Carol Dunn, Robert Everson, Anne-Marie Feliks, Marj Ferguson, Julee Gloster, Brian Gondek, Jim Gruber, Frank Gunnip, Kim Hall, Mike Harhold, Carolyn Henne, Stacy Horstman, Gary Hutman, Jay Ingram, Matt Kleitch, Beryl Krasner, Steve Locke, John Lowry, Dave Maurice, Fred McDonald, Kathy McElroy, Dorothy McLeer, Mike Mencotti, David Miller, Karen Niemec, Darrin O'Brien, Jim O'Callaghan, Marci Oldford, Joan Olkowski, Jeff Ouimet, Chris Oxley, Allison Parker-McCormick, Mike Perrin, Dawn Perry, Sally Petrella, Dimas Pioli, Liz Rashid, Susanne Sadik, Jerry Sadowski, Irene Sikora, Janelle Smith, Pam St. Amour, Mike Truchan, Blanche Wicke, Mary Wise, Julian Wood, Don Yee.

Thank you!

Rouge River Bird Observatory,

Natural Areas Dept., University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128

Revised 20 December 1998