Band Repair

As we were getting ready for our counting this morning I noticed a Laysan Albatross that was limping. I looked more closely and it had an old style band that was made of aluminum and it had worn and opened to the point that it fell down on top of the foot and was cutting into the bird's leg. I captured the bird and one of the other count team members with banding experience used a pair of pliers and opened the band and closed it on the other leg to allow the injury to heal. The island biologist re found the bird later and placed another permanent band that will be much longer lasting and should cause no more trouble for the bird.