Blackpoll Warbler banded October 2, 2024
Recaptured October 3, 2025
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....BSBO had banded this bird exactly FIVE YEARS earlier to the day!
Imagine, your summer home is in the far north, maybe Alaska; your winter home is somewhere in the jungles of South America; and you rely on a special beach ridge in northwest Ohio for the critical stopover connection between the two. You visit all these places, not by airliner, but by your own wing power. During fall migration, you spend 80+ hours with nothing but open expanses of ocean beneath you, longing for that first glimpse of terra firma. And you do this each autumn, for at least six years, guided by the primordial instincts that have obviously served you well.
Then, exactly five years to the day of your first visit, you return to one of this continent’s most important stopover sites, to the astonishment of human friends from long ago. What stories you could tell. What stories you DID tell, since you were wearing our band. This Blackpoll Warbler, a true miracle of migration, first meeting the strange creatures that placed a “bracelet” on your leg on September 13th, 2006, calling you an adult male, and giving you an identity as number 2400-42807. |
We estimate that this bird, weighing less than an ounce, had traveled at least 50,000 miles in its lifetime, a significant portion of those miles over the open ocean.
50,000 miles on nothing more than feathers and faith.
Migratory birds make these perilous journeys every spring and fall. Guided by instinct, they take the leap into the unknown with the faith that the habitat they need will be there at the end of their flight.
This is where YOU come in.
Your year-end donation will allow BSBO to continue to make these important discoveries and share them with the world, inspiring people of all ages to care more about birds and bird conservation, generating the support necessary to protect and conserve the precious habitat that these winged miracles rely upon for their survival.
50,000 miles on nothing more than feathers and faith.
Migratory birds make these perilous journeys every spring and fall. Guided by instinct, they take the leap into the unknown with the faith that the habitat they need will be there at the end of their flight.
This is where YOU come in.
Your year-end donation will allow BSBO to continue to make these important discoveries and share them with the world, inspiring people of all ages to care more about birds and bird conservation, generating the support necessary to protect and conserve the precious habitat that these winged miracles rely upon for their survival.
Thanks to the generous challenge match from a team of donors,
your donation will be DOUBLED up to a total of $65,000!
AND, donate $25 or more for your chance to win a $4,000 optics prize package!
your donation will be DOUBLED up to a total of $65,000!
AND, donate $25 or more for your chance to win a $4,000 optics prize package!
Your year-end donation is more than a transaction; it is a renewal of your commitment to research, education, and conservation, a testament to your passion for birds, and a declaration of your belief in the power of collective action to create positive change in the world.
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Thank you for your generosity, for sharing the vision, and for helping BSBO to be a force for good in the world. We wish you peace and joy in the coming year, and always.
Sincerely, 
Kimberly Kaufman
Executive Director 
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