Reading Your Bird’s Leg Band

 

Q: My cockatiel has a ring on its leg with letters and numbers on it. What is it for?

– Beverly F., Staten Island, NY

A: The ring is called a leg band and it is intended as a means to identify your bird’s place of origin as well as some other information.

The practice of banding began in North America a couple of hundred years ago by field researchers in an effort to keep track of the populations of wild migratory birds and local flocks.

In later years, as parrots became popular pets in North America, their importation (as well as all other bird species) began being carefully tracked by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Imported birds often bring with them the diseases that are prevalent in their native habitats and following an outbreak of psittacosis in the early 1900s, the US clamped down on bird importation and finally set a ban on it in 1992.

Because banding is practical, safe and non-invasive to a bird, you almost never see a bird in the company of humans without one. There are two kinds of legbands that are relative to us as parrot owners:

  • The closed leg bands that we see on parrots indicate that it has been captive bred. This band is an unbroken ring that is slid onto the small leg of hatchling and becomes a permanent fixture once the bird has reached maturity.
  • The open band, a rounded split ring that is placed on the leg of an adult bird, indicates that it was at one point detained in an importation station. A bird with an open band was either brought into the country as a wild caught bird prior to the importation ban, or was transported as a pet from another country and stayed in the importation station during a period of quarantine.

Because there are so many leg bands on so many birds for so many different reasons, it makes sense that each should bear markings that make them distinguishable from all others. Eventually, early in the leg band’s history, a much needed system began to develop using numbers and letters that revealed information about the wearer’s origins.

Unfortunately the system is not yet a universal one within the breeding community. The closed bands we see on most companion birds do not always carry the same information. The breeder’s ID code, the year of hatching and an ID# assigned to the bird may or may not all appear on a band.

 

Unless the bands were supplied to the breeder through a parrot society, such as the AFA (American Federation of Aviculture), there are no standards for the information that is contained on them. There are many breeders out there doing things in their own ways because there isn’t a system to follow that has been set in stone.

Usually, there are letters that identify the breeder’s state that can give you a starting point for investigation.

The open band is by far the easier to track. Importation stations are either USDA owned (most are closed now) or privately owned (but supervised by the USDA), meaning that there are only two band code systems to consider and each relates to a limited number of importation stations throughout the country (less than 100 compared to the thousands of breeders using closed bands.)

A USDA band will always carry the letter USDA followed by 2 or 3 letters that identify the state, and city if more than one station exists in that state. It will be followed by 3 or 4 identifying numbers, for example: USDAM 1234. This traces back to a station in Miami.

A quarantine band from a privately owned station will always have three letters followed by three numbers, such as CRO 123. The first letter indicates the state is California, the second letter IDs the station and the third letter and the following three numbers identify the bird.

Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.

 

 

175 comments

Michelle Parrish

My bird has this as an id # omk s26 what does that mean. Where is he from amd how old is he. If anyone can help me. Thanks

Michelle Parrish
Lana

Lost parrot landed in my backyard. Ring reads 7 17 CAN. How to identify his owners? Mississauga , ON

Lana
Mou

I have yellow nape amazon the leg bands is open and i found these letters cal and 190 whats that mean thanks

Mou
Summer

A195684 is my parakeets number someone please tell me what it means my email is summerj11@icloud.com thank you

Summer
Laurie

A friend found a Love bird on her window sill with a red band on its right leg. How do we find the owner?

Laurie
Naji

Hi i bought a kakriki bird in Lebanon on There is a leg band Cz 13 2676 Any help plz

Naji
Angela Smith

My son found a parakeet just flying and hopping around our yard it has an open blue band on it’s foot please let me know if it’s yours

Angela Smith
Kerri

I recently received a Sun Conure ., it’s leg band Reads SPA FL 10 003 Can you help decode ?

Kerri
Carol Simmers

Hi, I purchased 2 cockatiels from a PetSmart and I want to know what the letters and numbers mean on their leg bands stand for. The start off with the letters AE 11110.

Carol Simmers
Rachel Collins

My blue and gold macaw parrot previous owner lost his paperwork and I thought maybe I could get a copy of it by tracking the leg band. If there’s a different way to get it I would appreciate it. My email is collinsrachel240@gmail.com

Rachel Collins
Linda

My vet removed the leg band from two of my parakeets. She said that they can get caught on things and the bird can be injured. You might want to consider removing them.

Linda
Corina Greim

I was wondering if you might be able help with my cockatoos leg band it says ava or 648 any info would be helpful. Thank you.

Corina Greim
Erden

Hi, My alexender parrot leg ring number “H00 3355 19 05” how can read this number..?

Erden
abdul

I need band for cocktail …where I can get.

abdul
Sheila collins

I bought two parrotlets and trying to find out if they are siblings Male is leg band TFF 19 378 Female TFF 19 382 The 19 indicates year hatched what are the three digit numbers mean

Sheila collins
Mariana

My Budgie bird has the code 10237 19 , is there anyway how to figure this out?

Mariana
Tony

I have a blue front amazon,, her leg band is beyond confusing to me, it says RYR then IN sideways then the numbers 032. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Tony
Alain

Hello, My new canary has a leg band. CSA 16. 866 Aby info this #. ?

Alain
gillian sanders

Hi, my blue Amazon parrot has 20-4-2 on her foot ring, can anyone tell me what this means? Thanks

gillian sanders
Name (required)

CO49719 my parrot (amazon) ring but I dont understand about it please help me write my mail

Name (required)
laura

what does AZ mean on the leg band of a parrot

laura
carol gelfand

my severes leg band was cutting into her leg so i had it removed bur i saved it and it says GL 7 90. i dont know what GL stands for. i think 90 is the year she was born. anyone know?

carol gelfand
Kay Young

What is the best way to remove a band from my tiny Gouldian Finch’s leg. One of her toes keeps getting caught in it, even though I’ve trimmed her nails way back.

Kay Young
Susan Hollis

Hi I got my budgie from Tarro NSW Australia & his band numbers & letters are CBC / 3 799 can anyone tell me more information about that please or where I can find out what the Green band means

Susan Hollis
Sharon

Hooties has an import band from a quarantine station in Florida.The vet let me know on his first visit.He also told me there was o way to tell Hooties age.I sure wish I could find out maybe this site could help?

Sharon

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