On June 13th, we celebrated our annual Summer Hummingbird Days at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center! This year, we banded ten new hummingbirds and caught four birds that had already had been banded.

Along with our usual banding, we also became apart of a groundbreaking research initiative called The Alaska HumTrack Project.

The Alaska HumTrack Project is a collaborative research program that seeks to collect more data on rufous hummingbirds than ever before. In partnership with the AWCC, biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Banding Coalition of the Americas (BCA) will affix cutting-edge data transmitters onto visiting rufous hummingbirds. These tiny tracking devices, developed by Cellular Tracking Technologies, will provide scientists from across North America with high-resolution data about rufous hummingbird migration, feeding habits, and breeding grounds.

Check out this video to learn more and see highlights from the day! (Video produced by Myah Griffin).