Volusia
County is in the midst of a countywide project banding Florida scrub
jays, in the hopes of individually  marking
as many of these birds as possible.
Banding a scrub jay involves putting permanent “bracelets”
on the bird’s legs, just above the foot.
Each temporarily captured scrub jay is given a numbered United
States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) aluminum band with three
additional color bands: one color band on the bird’s left leg that indicates the
bird’s banding location, and two additional color bands that are
specific to that individual bird. The yellow and the white color bands
indicate scrub jays that were banded at Lyonia Preserve, red color
bands indicate birds banded at Blue Springs State Park, and green
color bands indicate birds banded at all other county locations.
Total handling time is minimal, and all
individuals who band the scrub jays have permits from the appropriate
agencies. Once a scrub
jay is banded, we can follow it’s movement (dispersal) and identify
population trends. As the
scrub jay’s habitat continues to be developed, the information
gathered from these banding efforts will be critical for making
scientifically-based conservation efforts in Volusia County.
 If
you observe a banded scrub jay, please call Volusia County
Environmental Management to notify us of that bird’s location.
We also would be very appreciative if you would contact Volusia
County upon observing any unbanded scrub jay, so that we can add that
bird to our banding efforts. Please
help us to conserve the Florida scrub jay, the only bird found
exclusively in Florida and a flagship species for the rapidly
disappearing Florida scrub ecosystem.
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