Absolutely Awesomely Alliterated, but perhaps a bit misleading to a
bird bander, since banding and ringing both describe the act of
applying leg markers. I was expecting to read a report of a robin
with a leg band.

I do wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that being able to
recognize individual birds across time and place is greatly
rewarding, and the rewards most certainly go well beyond the
scientific. It's quite a thrill to connect and reconnect with
individual migratory birds across years and miles. One starts to
wonder, who is studying who ?

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan AT earthlink.net
Arlington

Subject: ringed robin returns
From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson AT comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:02:53 -0800
Hello, tweets.

Last summer I had a distinctively marked male American Robin in my
yard, with showy white eyerings. I photographed it in March and April
and saw it well into the summer, although I don't know if it bred
successfully or not. I didn't keep track of when it disappeared, but
it was some time in late summer.

But this afternoon I looked out in the front yard and there it was
again, presumably a newly arrived migrant back from who knows where!
It's really neat when you can recognize an individual bird by one of
its own features. That's certainly the major reward of bird banding,
individually recognizable birds that give us an insight into their
lives.