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Success! After MANY photos, and much help from @jaredclarkeNDP, we pieced together the leg band number on this blue jay (1/6) (Oct 2017). There's a story, so read on!
I've been seeing this bird since 2016 and wondered about its story. To get access to that info, I needed to read the number on the band. No small task but take enough photos and... (2/6)
...eventually you can piece together the 9 digits. After that, it's just a matter of looking up the number and getting a report. https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/ (3/6) (Dec 2016)
Turns out, this bird was banded on August 31, 2015, just a few blocks north of my back yard. The banders were Mary and Stuart Houston - Saskatoon birding celebrities. (Sept 2019)(4/6)
(5/6) Mary passed away last summer. She was a legend. You can read her obituary here: https://thestarphoenix.remembering.ca/obituary/mary-houston-1076128642
Birds connect us. I will be keeping the peanut feeder full and watching this blue beauty, hopefully for many years to come. (6/6)
(7/6) At the time of banding in 2015, the jay was estimated to have hatched 2014 "or earlier", so it's at least 6 yrs old this summer.
