Why do scientists put bands on birds? KD1 gives us a chance to explain. 🦅 If you’ve been following the Big Bear Lake, California bald eagle family, you may have noticed a new eagle at the nest. KD1 (Kaydee) has recently been seen in the nest with Shadow following the loss of Jackie. The band on KD1’s leg is more than an identification tag. It connects this eagle to the USGS’s Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL), which maintains more than 100 years of bird banding and encounter data. The BBL manages more than 7,700 federal bird banding and marking permits and distributes more than 1 million bird bands each year. These data help scientists study bird movements, survival and populations. Bald eagles are a powerful example of why this long-term science matters. Once severely threatened by contaminants such as DDT, their populations have made an extraordinary comeback. From one banded eagle to more than a century of data, every observation helps tell the story. Learn more about why we band birds: 📷: Image courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley 📷