INJURY DUE TO LEG BANDS IN WILLOW FLYCATCHERS

We report an apparently unusually high incidence of leg injury in Will ow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii) as a result of banding and color b anding. Color bands and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) bands a pplied to Willow Flycatchers from 1988-1995 resulted in an overall leg injury rate of 9.6% to birds returning to our study areas in subseque nt Fears. Most injuries occurred on legs with only color band(s) (58.3 %) or on legs with both a USFWS band and a color band (35%); only 6.7% of injuries (4/60) were due to USFWS bands alone, yielding an overall USFWS band injury rate of only 0.6%. Injuries ranged from severe (swo llen, bleeding legs; a missing foot) to relatively minor (irritations on the tarsus). Amputation of the foot occurred in 33.9% of the cases. Return rates of adult injured birds in the year(s) following injury w ere significantly lower than for the population at large.