The Contribution of Banding to Australian Bird Ecology

Abstract

The systematic marking of wild birds with numbered metal leg-bands was initiated by the Danish schoolmaster Mortensen in 1899, and many countries have had national bird-banding schemes in operation for several decades. These are designed primarily to document bird movements and migrations, and they also provide an essential tool for more intensive and detailed studies based upon repeated records, by trapping and observation, of birds identifiable as individuals. The Australian Bird-banding Scheme, inaugurated in 1953 by the Wildlife Section, C.S.I.R.O. (Carrick, 1956a) is now serving both of these purposes, and its first four years have added significantly to our knowledge of the ecology and behaviour of Australian birds. Seasonal movements, hitherto unknown or at best only surmised, are becoming clear, especially those which take place within the geographical range permanently occupied by the species, and the age, sex and regional elements involved in them are being defined. Prior to banding, information was general and inconclusive, but now the widely-scattered origins of birds which occur in the Australian region, and the unsuspected patterns of dispersal of some species, are becoming known.