Community Bird Banding with Birds of Urban Baltimore (B.Ur.B)

Nature isn’t somewhere you have to go to. It is all around us, even in the heart of a city like Baltimore. In 2019, the NHSM joined Birds of Urban Baltimore (B.Ur.B) as a host site for its expansion of the Smithsonian’s Neighborhood Nest Project to monitor 8 species of birds commonly found in urban and suburban areas through banding. The birds are first caught in mist nets, measured, weighed, assessed for health and then banded with colored ID bands, and released back into the wild.

Join Mike Hudson, an ornithologist from B.Ur.B to learn more about this exciting project, its goals, its data, and most importantly, how you can get involved, because The real science starts after the birds are released. The project relies on people in the community to be on the look out for these birds with banded legs. When they spot one – they make a note of the color band combination and then enter that data into a website. The Smithsonian is using this data to help better understand the life histories of these birds.

NOTE: You will have the opportunity to come out to the NHSM on May 11 and June 8 to observe and perhaps help with the bird banding at the museum. Go to our calendar at www.marylandnature.org for more information and to RSVP.