Coyote Creek Field Station Landbird Banding Research
For more than 35 years, our scientists and citizen scientists have conducted bird banding research on passerines at the Coyote Creek Field Station (CCFS) in Milpitas. Bird banding provides valuable information that helps us study bird dispersal, migration, behavior, social structure, life span, survival rate, reproductive success, and population growth. It also allows us to understand seasonal and long term population patterns of migratory, wintering and year-round resident birds; and track individual birds, which is important in factoring survival, migratory turnover rates, and longevity. Additionally, it allows us to examine bird response to the riparian restoration at CCFS.
We, along with most other banding facilities in North America, send our banding data to the Bird Banding Laboratory (of USGS), which stores all of this information. This collective of information tells us how far a bird may travel during migration and which path it chooses to take. If you happen to come across a dead bird with a band on it, please call the Bird Banding Lab at 1-800-327-2263 with the band number and information about when and where the bird or band was found. This could provide important information to both those who originally banded the bird and the bird community.
Citizen Science Volunteer Application