You've heard me say it before - banding birds is so cool, and it teaches you so much. Another way to mark birds for research is to use auxiliary markers, which can be wing tags, neck bands or others.
My dad today spotted a Turkey Vulture with a patagial tag! This is a close up of what one looks like, not the one my dad saw, courtesy of a blog maintained by Jared Clark, the park naturalist for Wascana Centre Authority in Regina, Saskatchewan. The number my dad saw was S48. The project is one to find out about migration and other natural biology habits of Turkey Vultures. I talked to Dr. Stuart Houston, who is heading this project, and he said that the bird my dad saw was banded as a chick in August last year (09) at Porcupine Prairie, Saskatchewan. That is over 800 miles away! I am still gathering some information about the project and the bird - check back for updates!