Since 2000, an intensive banding effort has been underway in Ithaca, New York. One goal of this study is to understand the dynamics of disease transmission, survival, and movements of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus). You can help us to address these needs by monitoring your bird feeders for color-banded finches. It is critical that we estimate rates of House Finch movement from our local study area to better understand the geographic spread of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, also known as House Finch eye disease.

Figures 1 (photo by A. Davis) and 2 (photo by J. Wells) show different possible views of color-banded House Finches at feeders and the sequence for recording band combinations of these individuals. All of our color-banded finches have four bands (two bands on each leg) resulting in a unique color combination, so that each individual can be identified from our records. Figure 3 shows the 11 color bands that we use, and the abbreviation for each color.

The band combinations are ‘read’ in a specific sequence from the bird’s point of view. The first band position is the top band on the bird’s left leg; the second band position is the bottom band on the left leg. The third band position is the top band on the bird’s right leg, followed by the bottom band on the right leg. The band combinations are always recorded as the abbreviations for the colors of the two bands on the left leg, followed by a period, then the abbreviations for the two bands on the right leg. Thus, in Figure 1 the band combination is read as “RM.PDB” and in Figure 2 as “MR.BY”.

How to Report Data