Identifying banded bushtits

If you live anywhere in Portland, Oregon (or anywhere else on the Pacific coast) and have a suet feeder, you undoubtedly have bushtits arriving in elfish swarms during the colder months.  If you live near Reed College or Oaks Bottom or even Westmoreland Park, you may have even noticed some with color-bands.  Those little guys have been banded by me over the last few years and they each have their own private life stories.  Some stories are long and complicated and others are simple.  But they are all insights into interesting bushtit lives. Or at least I think so.  But I'm just a tad prejudiced :-)

I mentioned in a previous blog that I have two people who have been regularly sending me updates about banded birds at their feeders:  one on the Reed campus and the other near the edge of Oaks Bottom.  And I am delighted every time I hear from them!   Because of their interest and reports I know who is happily surviving the winter and who they are hanging out with.

But there are more of you out there!   Just yesterday, a woman I know who lives a few blocks from Oaks Bottom noticed, for the first time, a banded bird at her feeder.  And several times I have received notice from the Federal banding lab that someone has reported banded birds near Reed.  Occasionally birders give me updates and even pictures of banded birds they have seen.  I appreciate them all!   Last year a birder send me a picture of bird I hadn't seen since the previous year.  That was nice surprise!

I gave a brief primer about how to read bands a few posts ago.  Today I'm going to give you the colors and their symbols so that when you do see banded bushtits (there may even be some left in Discovery Park in Seattle), you will be able to read the bands.  If you can do that, I can let you know who you saw and what their life history is:  where they had a nest and who they were paired with and who they hang out with.  Chances are they'll be back and you will soon be friends :-)

Here are the colors I use and their symbols.  BTW, a few birds (hatched last year) only have two bands:  one on each leg and one of those is aluminum.

X = aluminum  (This is the Federal USGS band.  It is slightly longer than the others and silver.)
R = red  (I have two slightly different reds, but they are both coded "R.")
L = dark blue   (This is a very dark blue that is easily told from the lighter versions.)
O = orange  (Very bright and very rare.)
B = black (This is a color I try to avoid because bushtits have black legs!)
Y - yellow (Very bright!)
W = white (The one most often mistaken for aluminum, especially if soiled.)
P = purple (In some circles this is also called "mauve."  It is isn't a deep purple.)
G = avocado green  (I have several greens.  This is not dark or bright. A deceptive color.)
E = dark green (Almost evergreen, but brighter.)
N=  neon and lightish green
U = light blue


Striped (two-color) bands (You may think I'm crazy.  Bushtit bands are small enough without being striped!! ):
A = striped red and dark blue ( This one isn't too bad.)
F = striped avocado and purple (Very hard to read.)
C = striped orange and yellow (I don't know why I bothered!)
M = red and white striped (candy cane!)

So there it is (almost all).  If you see color-banded bushtits, please let me know who and where.  I would love that information.  BTW, this is NOT easy, so don't feel bad if all you see is "yellow on one of the legs."  That may be all I need if I have a location.

YYXP:  A male in Discovery Park.  Terrible picture!  But in this picture you can see  his X over P

YYXP:  And in this picture you can see the Y over Y (and a beakful of nesting material.)