Bird Banding in Action: Fall 2026 — watch real field research at Kingery Nature Center
Watch Denver Audubon researchers band and measure wild birds up close, then hear how the data tracks migration and survival. $10/person. Aug 27, 8:30–9:45 AM MDT.
Why we picked this
You're watching a live data-collection process, not a demonstration — the birds banded that morning become part of a decades-long dataset on migration timing and survival. Seeing a warbler in the hand, briefly, is a different kind of close than any walk gets you.
Bird Banding in Action puts visitors right next to Denver Audubon’s fall banding station as researchers extract birds from mist nets, take measurements, attach a numbered leg band, and release them. Between birds, banders explain what the data is used for — tracking migration timing, site fidelity, and survival rates over years of recaptures.
Fall banding season means a mix of resident species and early migrants passing through the Kingery Nature Center’s riparian habitat along the South Platte. No two mornings produce the same lineup, which is part of what makes it worth checking out more than once.
The session runs 8:30 to 9:45 AM and costs $10 per person, adult or child (ages 3–17). Kingery Nature Center is at 11280 Waterton Rd. in Littleton.