Our History

Bird banding in America dates back to as early as the 1800s; in 1909, the American Bird Banding Association was formed as part of the Linnaean Society of New York.

In 1920, the Biological Survey (then part of the Fish & Wildlife Service, now part of the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division) took over the administration of bird banding. Since then, millions of birds have been banded.  

The Eastern Bird Banding Association was organized in 1923 for the purpose of bringing together those persons interested in banding birds. Originally, the Association published a “Bulletin,” but in 1929 this was discontinued and we joined forces with the Inland and Western Bird Banding Associations to publish a quarterly journal, North American Bird Bander (NABB).

The founders of the Eastern Bird Banding Association were Arthur Allen, Frank Burns, Maunsell S. Crosby, Beecher Bowdish, Howard Cleaves, John Gillespie, John Nichols, Witmer Stone, and Rudyerd Boulton. Carlton M. Herman was the first editor of EBBA NEWS.