Does anyone know how to discover the information on a historic leg band?  

A local school center has a collection of birds on display.  In the collection, there is a bird marked a "whistling swan".  It has two leg bands, one large one and one smaller one.  One is on the left leg, one is on the right.  Both appear pinkish now, although probably red originally.  The tag number is D893.   

I was helping teach there when one of the children noticed the bands.  I was able to talk about why the bird was banded (science!), but unable to give any specifics.  And it would be very interesting and very fun to share this with the children (and the staff!). 

I emailed the National Bird Banding lab a couple of weeks ago but have yet to recieve any kind of reply, so I was hoping someone on the list could give me the right contact.  

Thanks!

Joanne

Joanne Howl

West River, MD