The Wing Island Bird Banding Station has been in operation since September 2000. The station is sponsored by the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, MA and is situated on 80 acres abutting a sprawling salt marsh and 300 acres of conservation land. Over 175 species of birds utilize the land and the surrounding waterways.

The banding station opens the last week in April and continues until the 3rd week in November.  We typically band four times/week depending on the weather.  Our day begins at dawn and continues for six hours.

The primary goals of the Wing Island Banding Station are research and promoting public awareness of our natural world. For information on weekly banding activities check out our blog www.capecodbander.blogspot.com 

Looking at a Blue Jay

Children are especially enthralled to see a banded bird up close, or to get to have a sustained view of such a fleeting creature at all.

The Banding Lab

Over 19,800 birds of 129 species have been banded since its inception. (see Banding Stats for more information). The banding lab is housed in a small octagonal building behind the museum. This project was made possible by a generous grant from the French Foundation. Other grants were obtained from the Wharton Foundation and Eastern Mountain Sports.

Wing Island & Surrounding Marsh

The primary banding site is located on Wing Island, a 50-acre area of shrubby uplands that is separated from the museum by a tidal salt marsh. The north side of the island borders Cape Cod Bay. To the west lies Quivett Creek and Paine's Creek meanders by the east side of the island. Thirty-five nets are positioned on the island in areas where the greatest numbers of birds congregate. A meadow restoration project began in the fall of 2004 on the west side of the island. Trees, shrubs, and invasive plant species were removed, with a prescribed burn scheduled for the spring of 2005 to encourage native grasses and plants to grow. We hope grassland birds and butterflies will be attracted to this site, too.

From 2002-2009 we participated in a MAPS project (which stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) in the Punkhorn Parklands, an 869-acre parcel of conservation land bought by the town of Brewster a number of years ago. This forested area is surrounded by numerous ponds and includes freshwater swamps and overgrown cranberry bogs. Breeding birds of our area were monitored once in every ten-day period after settling into their territories from the end of May to beginning of August.

We began our "Adopt-A-Bird" program in 2004 to raise money for the banding lab since it is a volunteer organization. Unfortunately many of our beautiful songbirds around the world are declining at an alarming rate. Do your part by "adopting" an individual bird and directly affect bird research conservation efforts with your $25.00 donation. You will receive a certificate and a picture of the bird, its band #, where it banded and released, and its age and sex if those can be determined. You will also receive a one-page description of the habits and ecology of your bird. You will be notified if we ever recapture your bird again. See Adopt-A-Bird Program to print out an order form.

IF YOU FIND A BIRD WITH A BAND please report it to the Bird Banding Laboratory. You can call toll free at 1-800-327-BAND (2263). Or you can report it via the Bird Banding Lab's website. (Click here for the link to the BBL).

Created by Pelagic Designs
Photos by Sue Finnegan & Elizabeth Bradfield