The Eastern Bird Banding Association is proud to launch the Diversity & Access Bird Banding Fellowship, a fully funded fall immersion for an early- or new-career individual from an underserved or marginalized community to support those who have historically been excluded from, or face barriers to, gaining experience in ornithological fieldwork (specifically bird banding).
This fellowship is designed for someone who is passionate about nature, birds, and conservation. The ideal applicant shows strong motivation, has faced meaningful barriers to entering this field, and seeks a future in bird banding, wildlife biology, environmental science, or conservation. No prior banding experience is required.
This is a chance to learn hands-on banding skills, gain mentorship from expert banders, explore three different geographical areas, and join a supportive conservation community.
For more information visit: /forums/topic/58747-ebba-diversity-access-bird-banding-fellowship/
The link is also in our profile links for easier access!
Happy World Migratory Bird Day! From their strange calls to their preference for caterpillars, cuckoos are some of the most fascinating birds to breed in and pass through the EBBA region each spring and summer. Large numbers of tent caterpillars near your net lanes may attract these amazing birds, which are specially adapted to feed on hairy caterpillars that many other species avoid. Cuckoos can even shed the lining of their stomachs once it becomes clogged with irritating caterpillar spines and hairs, and both Yellow-billed Cuckoos (YBCU) and Black-billed Cuckoos (BBCU) are capable of eating more than 100 caterpillars in a sitting if there is an abundance! Let’s take a closer look at the two species that EBBA region banders may encounter during spring and summer banding.
There are several differences between the two species, with the most obvious being bill color. Adult YBCU (right side) have an almost totally yellow mandible, while BBCU (left side) have a completely black/gray mandible. The red orbital ring in adult BBCU is another field mark separating them from the gray orbital ring in adult YBCU. However, hatch-year (HY) and second-year (SY) BBCU can show a yellow-green to gray orbital ring, while the young YBCU usually have a yellow orbital ring.
YBCUs display a large, diffuse rufous patch on their primaries and secondaries, while BBCUs have more uniformly brown wings. In addition, YBCUs have large, bold white spots at the tips of the rectrices (tail feathers). BBCUs also have white tail marks, but they are much smaller and appear only as thin slivers at the ends of the rectrices.
#birdbanding #birds #cuckoo #ornithology #migration
American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) are still making their way north. If they haven’t already, they may be showing up in your nets soon!
Something unique about AMRE is that they exhibit delayed plumage maturation. After second year (ASY) males are black and orange, while (SY) second year males and females are gray and yellow to yellow orange. Sometimes we can sex second year individuals by the brightness of their yellow/orange patches!
SY males may even have a “freckled” appearance, with diffuse black spotting throughout their gray body plumage!
#migration #Americanredstart #warbler #birds #birdbanding
All banding is conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by U.S. Geological Survey.
As new species of migrants show up at our stations, many residents and some short distance migrants have already started breeding. Many EABL in the Northeast have been showing breeding conditions for a few weeks already!
Which species have you caught so far this spring with breeding conditions? #migration #birdbanding #bluebird
You know it’s spring when you band the first BGGN of the year! The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is one of the earlier spring migrants in eastern North America, arriving much sooner than many other insectivorous passerines.
BGGN breeding in the Northeast are long distance migrants, traveling to and from wintering grounds in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Southern breeders are typically short-distance migrants. In some regions, they may even remain year-round residents.
Have you banded any BGGN this spring?
#Ornithology #Migration #BlueGrayGnatcatcher #Ecology #BirdBanding
During the beginning of the spring banding season, many of us get to see birds molting into their alternate plumage. In some species, the alternate plumage may not look much different than the basic or formative plumage, but the difference can be very obvious in other species. The American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) has a partial prealternate molt, replacing much browner basic/formative feathers with yellow alternate feathers. In AMGO, the prealternate molt includes body feathers and coverts - including up to 4 inner greater coverts! #molt #goldfinch #birds #birdbanding #finch
FBBO was well represented this past weekend at the @ebba_banding annual meeting! Currently and former staff and volunteers enjoyed a weekend of talks, networking at a trip to @powdermillnaturereserve1956 to see their banding set up. We are already looking forward to next year!
Powdermill Avian Research Center is pleased to announce it will be hosting an in-person Motus workshop beginning at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 13 and ending 4:00 p.m. Friday, May 15, 2026.
The workshop will be held at Powdermill Nature Reserve, the field station of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located in the beautiful mountains of Western Pennsylvania. This workshop is aimed towards researchers, educators, students, and others that are interested in learning more about using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System.
Participants will have the opportunity to visit multiple active Motus stations and gain hands-on experience attaching transmitters to live birds (for participants sub-permitted to band birds). Presentations will focus on techniques for installing and maintaining Motus receiver stations, project planning, transmitters, and data management and analysis.
Workshop registration is $600 for professionals and $350 for early professionals, Latin Americans working in Latin America, students, and attendees of our previous Virtual Motus Workshops. Registration cost includes shared housing in cabins on Powdermill property as well as catered dinner on Thursday evening and lunch on Friday and Saturday. If you wish to stay elsewhere, standard accommodations are available at several nearby hotels for approximately $100 per night. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation.
If you are interested in attending, please reach out to Jonathan Rice at [email protected]) to register.
Thank you to Advanced Telemetry Systems for sponsoring the 2026 EBBA meeting at the Wood Thrush level!
Founded in 1981, ATS has been providing quality radio telemetry products to ecologists, wildlife managers, and conservationists for over 40 years.
To see a list of this year’s sponsors, please check out the last page of the conference program: /page-18112
#radiotelemetry #ebba2026 #advancedtelemetrysystems
For #MoltMonday this week, let’s take a look at a bird that many of us in the east only band in the late fall through early spring — the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)!
Like the other Catharus thrushes in the EBBA region, HETH follow the complex basic molt strategy. In this strategy, an additional molt occurs in the first cycle but not in subsequent cycles. This molt is called the preformative molt and results in a molt limit between retained juvenile feathers and replaced formative feathers that we can use to determine age (unless the species does a complete preformative).
This HETH replaced two inner greater coverts during its preformative molt. Can you see the difference between the inner two formative feathers and the rest of the tract? Compared to the juvenile feathers, the formative feathers lack shaft streaks/buffy tips, are more olive and match the bird’s back, and are more densely barbed. When looking at this bird in the hand, the formative feathers also had a much nicer sheen. I’ve labeled the GCs in the second picture.
While buffy-white tips and shaft streaks are characteristic of juvenile feathers, the absence of these markings is not always an indication of an adult bird. Some first-cycle birds may lack these markings. In these cases, look for differences in quality, color, barb density, and sheen within the inner greater coverts. #BirdBanding #PreformativeMolt #HermitThrush #Ornithology
